


Waiting and Expecting

by LenaReyes



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Drama & Romance, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:15:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28325190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LenaReyes/pseuds/LenaReyes
Summary: After Jill's return from Africa and her recovery from Wesker's augmentations, she decides to take a vacation with Carlos by her side as a revelation awaits at the end of what will be a tour to remember for our beloved survivors of Raccoon City, and there waiting to give their wise advice are the experienced husband and wife, Barry and Kathy.
Relationships: Barry Burton/Kathy Burton, Carlos Oliveira/Jill Valentine
Comments: 31
Kudos: 37





	1. France

**Author's Note:**

> This is a side project I'm working on while continuing my Ashes of Yesteryears fic. It's all Valeveira. Hope y'all enjoy.

It was only a month removed from the Kijuju incident and the news that reached across the world, which being the death of the world’s most infamous bioterrorist, Albert Wesker, but even better was the world having their beloved hero back after three years, being the BSAA founding member and SOU Captain, Jill Valentine …

Her return, however, did not come quickly or easily, having to deal with weeks and months of therapy to rid the augmentations Wesker had done to her body, but once she was cleared, her dear family of loving friends threw the ‘Welcome Back’ party she always wanted, and did so at the place where she wanted it to be at the Burton home. As for her career, Jill chose to take a break from the BSAA, for how long, she still had yet to decide, but that was the least thought in her head because right now she was focused on enjoying the vacation, and she wasn’t going through it alone in what she declared a world tour since by her side was the one she owed her life to and the one she loved since surviving Raccoon City.

Yes, that would be Carlos Oliveira, sitting next to her on France’s TGV, the high-speed rail train zooming through the vast countryside on a rich sunny afternoon, but in regards to the pair, both were in civilian clothing, of course, in matching hoodies with Jill’s being blue and Carlos sporting a black one, and as of now, there’s Jill trying hard not to laugh.

The reason? It was Carlos going through a tour guide book with the label, ‘Learning French’, and yes, Jill was ever fluent with the French seeing as French blood coursed through her veins where meanwhile, Carlos was trying his best while scratching at his left eyebrow. 

“Hello, bonjour… Goodbye, au revoir… How are you, comment allez-vo… comment allez-vo… comment allez-vo—wha??”

The cutoff was hearing snort of a giggle that has Carlos blinking at Jill, looking down having a hand over her mouth and another clutching at her stomach that rumbled as she restrained from bursting out laughing, hence, the snorts of giggles that continued on, and there’s Carlos, giving her a weary, defeated look.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, at least I’m trying here.”

Oh did she ever laugh it up, bursting out laughing that earned many confused stares from the other passengers, but Jill quickly settles down the laughter and turns to Carlos to sweetly pinch at his cheek and wiggle it. “Aww, come on, I wasn’t laughing at you.”

“Sure you weren’t.” Those words slurred out of Carlos seeing as Jill was still holding his cheek, getting a giggle from Jill, who releases his cheek that she places a sweet peck of a kiss over. “I really wasn’t, Carlos. I love the effort and you’ve been doing great so far. Imagine me trying to learn your Brazilian-Portuguese.”

“I think that’ll be hot.”

The result is Jill delivering a playful smack to his chest, him chuckling and Jill giggling once more. Both then settled back into their seats with Jill heaving out such a pleased, satisfied sigh to the ceiling of the compartment. “This is exactly what I needed after all that’s happened since Africa.”

“We both promised we wouldn’t bring that up during your vacation, Jill.”

Jill turns to Carlos, and the worried air in his gaze had her eyebrows furrowing before looking out the window considering she had the window seat, having the view of the countryside and also the reflection of Carlos’s worried face behind her, so she whispers. “I’m sorry. It’s just… it’s just—

“Just what, Jill?”

“It’s just I’ve been so selfish to you.”

Carlos knew where Jill was heading with this as this wouldn’t be the first time as he always had to reassure of having his support, so there’s his warmhearted chuckle. 

“Jill, how many times are we going to go over this? It’s all right. I told you time and time again that it’s okay to go out there kicking ass with Chris and making the world a better place, preventing another RC like you told me. I was through fighting after escaping that place, so don’t you worry about me. Besides, I know you too well to turn in your gun and live that normal life. I won’t hold you back from doing what you want like I also told you. As for me, I’m fine just being an advisor and knowing you have all of the BSAA watching your back.”

“But it was different this time,” Jill pauses here to finally turn to his confident smile with her saddened face, “Even though I’m back, I can’t imagine what you went through for those three years I was gone. The BSAA giving up the search. The funeral. The empty coffin.”

“And now here you are, back from the dead.” Carlos joked, but Jill didn’t go with it. “Carlos, I’m serious here.”

“And so am I when I say that it’s all right.” It was Carlos’s turn to pause and become serious himself, sitting back and now looking up at the ceiling as he remembered back with Jill listening on while she was looking at the side of Carlos’s that she could see the glimpse of his own sadness wash over him. 

“Did I suffer when I heard the news from Chris about what happened at the Spencer Estate? You bet I did. Hell, no one suffered more than Chris. The guy kept apologizing over and over, and not just to me, but everyone, but we were all there for him. If you were to do it again, to save Chris, we all know you would do it again, and that’s the thing, Jill.”

“What is?” Jill dryly whispered, her throat parched from the straining sadness.

Just then was Carlos looking right back at Jill with the confident smile he regained. “You’re far from selfish. You gave yourself to save Chris, and look at us now. It all worked out in the end, so quit with the past and just keep doing what you do best, which is kicking ass, Supercop.”

Though now she was more than an elite cop, though now she was a hero loved by all, Carlos never changed the nickname, and Jill never wanted him to do so for she loved it more and more every time she heard it since their survival from Raccoon City, and it always worked wonders as it did now. Jill’s sadness now replaced by the utmost happiness, smiling and sweetly laughing that she kept low as to not draw attention this time while pressing her forehead against Carlos’, who quietly laughed himself with both entwining their hands together, but as quickly as they did, there’s Jill letting out a quiet sharp cry of pain stabbing at her stomach that she immediately grabs, confusing and worrying Carlos all the same.

“Jill? Jill, you all right?”

“Ye-Yeah, just,” Jill takes a deep breath after the pain eventually leaves, “just a stomachache, is all. Don’t worry.”

Carlos would believe her, chuckling it off. “See? Told you about eating before we got on this thing.”

“Yeah, you did, heh.” Jill weakly laughed, but deep down, she had lied.

It wasn’t a stomachache. It was more than that, something Jill had yet to reveal to Carlos in fear how he would react to the life, the precious cargo she carried where her hands still lied over, her stomach, so yes, it hurt Jill having to lie, wanting to wait till the end of the vacation to reveal the special news to Carlos, who again doesn’t think much of it, his smile saying as much, and right on cue was a woman’s voice sounding over the speakers to signal their first stop on their world tour, the announcement beginning in French then translated to English.

‘Attention passengers bound for Paris. We’ll be arriving shortly in approximately 5 minutes. Make sure you have all your belongings before arrival. Repeat, all passengers bound for Paris, time of arrival is 5 minutes. Thank you and have a good day.’

The announcement finishes, and Carlos just smiles on over to Jill. “Guess that’ll be good for your stomach to get off this thing, yeah?”

“Yeah…” A halfhearted Jill replies with a fake smile that took back Carlos in knowing it wasn’t a true one, but once more, he assumes it was a normal stomachache, though becomes way more worried when Jill brought a hand over her mouth with the other still clutching at her stomach.

“Yo, hey, Jill, you—

“I gotta use the restroom.” Jill left it there and literarily climbed over Carlos and rush down the aisle, passing and sometimes bumping into other passengers gathering their things from the top compartments with Carlos looking the entire time.

He then faces forward as his mind now wondered to convince Jill to put the vacation on hiatus and head back home, wondering if Jill still required more therapy from what Wesker had done to her. Carlos will try so, but first gathering their luggage, slipping Jill’s blue carry-on bag around his left shoulder and slipping his black one around his right shoulder with both bearing the BSAA logo. Then next were there suitcases that he held in each hand, and with all their luggage gathered, Carlos doesn’t leave quite yet, stepping to the side to allow the other passengers to head past him and take their exit while he stayed behind, still looking, still waiting for Jill to appear from the restroom, but nothing, so when the path was clear, Carlos approaches the restroom where he could faintly hear the sounds of vomiting growing louder the closer he got.

Carlos stops right outside the door, pressing his ear against it and hearing the vomiting proceed on, becoming even more violent, and that’s when Carlos gives a knock with his knuckles. “Hey, Jill, you ok?”

Nothing, Just more vomiting and another knock from the concerned Carlos. “Talk to me, Jill, or open the door.”

“I’m fine, Carlos, ok?!” Jill struggled out, her voice muffled behind the locked door that she gave a kick too, causing Carlos to flinch back, though serious it was, leave it to Carlos to lighten up the mood with a joke.

“Ya know, you’re lucky I’m not a Master of Unlocking myself ‘cause I will be inside in seconds.”

Carlos got what he wanted, more or less. The door doesn’t open, but he does hear Jill’s laugh go muffled into the toilet, along with her next shout. “Fuck you, Carlos!!”

“We’ve been doing that ever since we left RC! I’d like to hear you say it in French though!”

“Oh my God!!” Jill laughed again with Carlos pleading. “Oh, come on. We have only…,” Carlos looks down at his watch, “we have only one more minute left, so come on, Supercop. Let’s hear it.”

“VA TE FAIRE FOUTRE!!!”

“Huh,” Carlos scratched his right eyebrow like before, just like he was going through the tour guide book. “Well, it’s not listed here, but that is a mouthful to learn.”

“OF COURSE IT WOULDN’T BE IN THERE!!”

“Ok, ok, but if I get this right, you have to come out no matter what. Ready?”

“Oh, Carlos, I swear, please don’t let it be what I’m think you’re about to—

“Super…,” Carlos scrolls through the pages, and when he finds the word for cop, Jill expected as much for Carlos to laugh loudly. “Hey, hey, this is priceless! Instead of Supercop, it is… Super Flic!”

That did it for Jill for the next thing Carlos hears is the flush of the toilet followed by what he next sees, and that is Jill opening the door lunging at with hands out to playfully choke at his neck where again, both were laughing and Jill shouting through the laughter. “No more personal space for your ass!”

Carlos went on laughing, they both did, and for Jill, she didn’t realize that Carlos’ free-spirited, warmhearted, caring and loving nature had worked their wonders once more since the pain was all gone, and it would continue this way through the day that both would enjoy in their first stop of the tour that began with visiting the renowned museum filled of historic art. That would be the Louvre, both playing photographers as they took plenty of selfies while also taking lone shots of one other. It went the same for their next visit, the Eiffel Tower, both standing in front of one of the world’s seven wonders and taking another happy selfie, this one with Carlos’ arms wrapped around Jill’s waist as he stood behind her with Jill leaning her head back in the nook of his neck as it was her taking the shot.

With the sun setting, they decided together to save the rest for tomorrow just like decided to have that romantic stroll through the beautiful archaic streets of Paris, walking hand-in-hand till it would eventually be broken by not just one, not a dozen, but many of the people noticing the one they considered a national treasure for her fight against bioterrorism, and all it took was one little girl pointing Jill out, happily shouting in awestruck and rushing to her with other children doing the same. Jill was ever humbled by the love she received, but before the children arrived, Carlos’s releases her hand, and she blinks to him heading off to the side, letting Jill have all the space and adoration that he wanted her to have, but one she wanted to share with him, but she would be assured otherwise by Carlos’ mouthing a set of words.

‘No worries. I’ll be here.’

That he will be, sitting at one of the many cafes where he orders himself a cup of coffee and sending the toasting gesture to Jill, and though sad as she was to not have him by her side, she understood. 

Carlos was not one for attention, and neither was she, but when it came to children and not the media, she was all for the little boys and girls arriving, all surrounding and showering Jill with so much love, each trying to get her attention by jumping up and down that Carlos couldn’t help to laugh warmly, but Jill handled it extremely well, giving each child as much attention as she could, not wanting to leave one unturned, and they all adsorbed every loving, wise advice she gave. Whether it was sticking to their schooling or being nice to others, the children took in every French word with their parents watching every moment of it, happily smiling and recording the touching scene their children will never forget, and they were not alone because there he is doing the same.

Carlos recorded it all for Jill, and Jill only, his phone zoomed in on Jill’s face that showed a smile that was unlike any other, a motherly one, and after a whip of her ponytail, Carlos would be caught as Jill looked right back at him, and her smile didn’t dwindle, it just grew more loving, a smile that spoke words, as if trying to tell him something, a smile that captivated Carlos enough to take his breath away and lower his phone altogether that when night came around, he was mostly, if not entirely silent as they were now checking off the last plan on their list. It was a gondola ride over the waterways under the beautiful starry sky, and though the atmosphere was romantic as could be, neither one said a word as they sat across from one another with Carlos having his head down when all the while it was now Jill being the concerned one, having those worried blue eyes on Carlos who had yet to say a word since getting onboard the gondola, but she knew it had something to do with the recent reception she got from the people.

So Jill breaks the silence she couldn’t stand, and it not only hurt her, but the life inside of her, feeling her mother’s pain at the earliest stage, and Jill begins softly. “You’ve been quiet. It’s not like you.”

Carlos doesn’t answer as quickly as she would’ve liked, but he does, though with eyes down. “From day one… after what we went through in RC, I knew you were going to be something else.”

As before in the train, Jill’s eyebrows furrow when they shouldn’t have to the praise, but they do, and they furrow even more with what Carlos says next after a hurtful chuckle in remembering one of his friends. “I never told you this, but when we went our separate ways in the city, when you got on train to escort the civilians out and I went back into the city, Tyrell took this teasing jab at me when I mentioned the train should be out of the city by the time we got to the precinct.

Jill had to clear her dry throat before speaking. “What did he say?”

Another hurtful chuckle, but this time, Carlos faces those sad blue eyes. “Heh, he said along with your, ‘hot date’, and guess what I said?”

“What did you say?” Jill softly and dryly asked as the clearing of the throat did nothing, and it strained further with Carlos saying those words he said all those years ago, which were, “I told T that you weren’t like anybody, and I was right by what I saw earlier. Those children, they love you, this whole world does. I knew you were going to be a hero.”

Again, it was a praise Jill should’ve smiled to, should’ve relished, especially hearing it from Carlos, but it didn’t work wonders this time as it’s now Jill looking down. “Never asked or wanted to be a hero.”

Reversal it was with now Carlos being the worried one, but he keeps shut as just listening was sometimes the best option, and it was in this very moment, listening to Jill do that scoff of a chuckle she had done back in Raccoon City on the train that seemed like yesterday to them. 

“Tch… if I were to tell you I wanted to be a normal cop, you’d thought I was lying, but it’s the truth. I never wanted any of this, the glamour and the publicity, but I am glad to have you all in my life. Chris, Claire, Barry, Leon, Kathy, now even Sheva and Josh, our family of friends I would never trade anything in this world for, and if it brings a smile to a child’s face, if me being a hero does that, then okay, I’m fine with that, but when it comes to you, Carlos…I don’t want you looking at me like a hero.”

It’s something he didn’t want to be asked of, so Carlos asks right back, flatly. “And why’s that?”

Jill looks up, unshed tears in her eyes, but such a touching smile that quivered in trying to stay strong. “Because all of this, all the love I always get, it wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for you. I can be held as a hero to millions, but all I needed and will ever need is one… you, Carlos.”

Such endearing words just brought back the silence, but their eyes remained on each other as Jill’s trembling smile stayed strong while Carlos stretched slightly into a humble one, and it was at this moment that the romantic atmosphere increased through a whistling sound that caught both their attention to look up and spot a lone firework exploding to light up the starry night with the color of blue and green. More would fireworks would follow of various colors illuminating the light with the Eiffel Tower in the distance, and that’s when Jill blocked his view, startling Carlos by standing over him as he now looked up at Jill no longer smiling, but there was that looking of longing, of wanting that had Carlos’ bronze cheeks going red, and the backdrop of the fireworks lighting up over Jill just added to her beauty.

Jill then grabs one of his hands and lifts it up, only to settle herself over his lap and drape that arm around her with placing the hand over her stomach, snuggling closer into Carlos and making herself comfortable with a blissful sigh against his neck where she had her face pressed against and also whispered against, her breath brushing across his skin.

“Now this is what I call a romantic cruise.”

When it to flirting, Carlos always thought himself to be the one to have the upper-hand, but this time, it’s Jill being the winner as it took a while for Carlos to digest it, though when he does, Carlos returns the affection, softly chuckling against the top of Jill’s head where he buried his face in the tresses of her pale blond hair, smelling the rich fragrance that was intoxicating to him.

“Agree with you there. Can’t get any better than this.”

“It could be better, though.”

“How so?”

“Kiss me.”

Of course, they have kissed before, many, many times before, but this one would be different as it surprised Carlos since it was the first and only time Jill demanded a kiss, so when pulling back just an inch to look down, there’s Jill looking back up at him, and the longing gaze wasn’t at his eyes, but at his lips that she trailed her fingers across. With that touch, Carlos gently came in to capture her lips with his, a kiss Jill whimpered a moan into with her pale cheeks flushing red as both their eyes softly closed. Their lips smack apart for that fleeting breath of air, only to come back with more intensity of passion, and yet again, this is when Jill takes charge for as the saying goes, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’, but in this case it was ‘When in France, do as the French do’, and that would be Jill’s tongue seeking out his that upon contact, she began swirling the tip around his.

Carlos didn’t disappoint, his tongue dancing perfectly along with Jill’s before their lips closed in for an even fiercer kiss, and that was that for the long, magical night that Jill needed and was just the beginning as it ends with the fireworks continue to shine over them…


	2. Japan

Two days pass after visiting her father’s birthplace of France, and now it was onto her mother’s birthplace that is the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan…

Jill toured through the capital that is Tokyo and did as Carlos requested when all she wanted was to spend all her time with him, but she does carry out his request, visiting schools where she provided advice to boys and girls about growing up in today’s society and how to treat others. Jill did the same when visiting high schools, advising young men and women, whom in just a few years, will begin pursuing their careers, and Jill did all this in fluent Japanese as she had done in France with her fluent French. Once her trip to the schools were over, Jill brought her compassionate presence to the various hospitals where she met with families of patients being treated that did not just end with those wounded from bioterrorism attacks, but from any attacks and diseases, and all were ever grateful for her kindness because like France held her as their national treasure, so did Japan.

Jill did not promote the BSAA as much as the media kept asking those repeated questions, such as what really happened in Africa, what’s it like to be alive, when will you return back to duty?

Jill kept to the same reply that she wasn’t there to talk of those things. Her repeated response was to do her best to comfort those hurt by bioterrorism as much as she could, and by the end of the day, the night was all to herself and Carlos as the public let her be. So skip to the present where we find our two heroes in a certain village in Osaka. The said village is where Jill’s mother was born and raised, and it was in these humble beginnings where Jill was now, the village celebrating its founding anniversary, hence, the fireworks lighting up the starry sky while the lanterns engraved with Japanese characters lit through the village pathways where villagers, men, women, the elderly, young couples took in the night with children playing without a care in the world.

Jill and Carlos would partake in the festivities themselves. 

She never forgot her roots. Jill cherished them, donning a blue kimono beholding butterfly patterns with her ponytail now tied into a bun as she stood outside the many vendors, this one being that of clothing, so as regards to Carlos, one could see why he had yet to appear from the dressing room, and the reason lied in the fact that Jill had convinced him to wear a certain outfit. Hence, the hysterical giggling she was covering with her right hand over her mouth, ala, France all over again.

“Oh, would you come out already, Carlos? I’m sure it’s not that bad. Chris and Sheva were the same way when I brought them over here and they looked fabulous. Now get your butt out here, what’s the big deal?”

“Not even a million dollars can get me out there in this, Supercop! And have you seen these undies?!” Carlos called out from the other side, and it just made Jill laugh again. “Get out here before I go in there myself, and you know I will”

With that playful warning, she would hear Carlos give a groan and see his silhouette rising to a stand to finally approach the door of the small dressing room. Jill would then find herself to be correct the moment Carlos slides the doors open, seeing him debonair as ever as he donned an all-black yukata that exposed the middle portion of his bronze chest, and the sight left her speechless and in a daydreaming state she was in now. Carlos, meanwhile, was thinking the exact opposite of himself, going as far as to ridicule his own looks after a heavy groan. All the while is the bustling atmosphere continuing around them.

“See? Happy now? Told you I look horrible. Barry could probably outdo me in this thing.”

That dazed state Jill was in was broken the instant Carlos made the statement, laughing to the thought of Barry in a Yukata of his own much to the dismay of Kathy teasing her husband, but the added bonus was Carlos making a joke. Jill fed off this, still trying to debate whether to break the news now or later that she was carrying the precious cargo in her stomach, but she again held it off and entwined her left arm with his right.

“You look terrific and handsome. Now let me lead the way.”

“Good to know you think that, but do go slow with the leading part. It’s gonna take me a while to get used to these undies. Too free down there.” Carlos groaned as he shook his legs to loosen up.

It was becoming the theme of their tour, Jill bursting out laughing, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so much in just the span of the few days that have passed. 

Even for Carlos, never seeing Jill as opened up as she was now when most of the time she was always her serious-self, but he wasn’t complaining. Out of character for those who knew Jill, it may be, but Carlos loved it, seeing Jill so lively, smiling and laughing after everything she endured in her career, and no one deserved it more than her, even if it was just for a few more days, and more laughter would come before the night was over, so Jill leads the way, passing by the other villagers intrigued by how their national treasure walked arm-in-arm, and the villagers were all smiles while Carlos just tensed up to the attention they were receiving, and Jill could feel it, clinging closer against him and smiling up at the blushing Carlos trying to keep a straight face as they kept on walking.

“Would you relax?” Jill whispered, and Carlos takes a deep breath. “Okay. I’m good.”

“Good.” Jill went on leading the way, and first stop was the cooking grounds with plenty of options, and oh yes, an excited Jill stops. “Ooh, smell that?!”

Carlos, lost, just bats his eyes as he looks around and sniffs and sniffs till he wearily says. “No. I don’t smell any Moon’s Donuts or Jim’s Crabs.”

Another laugh from Jill recalling her favorite food shops in Raccoon City, but either way, she leads Carlos to one of the many food vendors where she is quick to order hers, her favorite as a little girl, all in Japanese. 

“One Candy Apple, please!”

“Comin’ right up! And for you, sir?”

Carlos, who just blinked again at the many options on the menu on the side, couldn’t come to a decision, so there’s Jill doing it for him, again in Japanese with one word. “Dango!”

“Dango?” Carlos blurts out, and they were served their orders.

Jill is handed a Candy Apple while Carlos is dumbfounded when he takes the Dango, just again blinking at the three round shaped puffs on a skewer whereas Jill takes a huge bite of the apple, but then laughs through the munching and crunching when looking at Carlos continuing to stare at his food, and thus is Jill encouraging him with a full mouth.

“Oh, try it already!”

“What exactly is this?”

“It’s a dumpling made of various rice flours. Try it. You’ll like it.”

Carlos gives Jill that suspicious gaze, his eyes squinting. “That’s what you said about the ‘kick de can’ dish back in France and I basically lived in the bathroom.”

Jill covers her mouth, almost spewing out bits of the appel from her laughing, but she kept it contained, swallowing the pieces and regaining herself. “First off, it’s called Confit de canard. And second, this won’t give you the runs, now try it.”

“All right… here goes nothing.”

Pleased, Jill watches Carlos takes the first piece and chew away while Jill awaited the results, eyeing him closely with a smile of anticipation. “Well…?”

Carlos would answer not by words, but by actions as he ate the second piece, then finished it off with the third, only to then turn back to the vendor and, “Can I get another, please?”

Success for Jill, surprised, but a happy surprised, and it would just surprise her even further when he asked for another, so there he is, holding two skewers and devouring them piece by piece in less than a minute that when he turns to order more, a happy Jill stops him. “Ok, that’s enough there, Romeo.”

The nickname once said by Tyrell was now said by Jill, who didn’t use it very much, only frequently and only when at their happiest moments. Why she was careful with it was for the fear of having bringing back bad memories of what they went through and how much Carlos missed those he lost in the UBCS, but she never needed to worry as Carlos loved hearing it from her, and if there was only one who could call him that, it’s Jill, starting to tug him away from the food grounds.

A defeated Carlos groans and just lets the victorious Jill pull him along, but as they came across the festival gaming grounds, did Jill ever gush out like the little girl she once was when spotting a certain game booth, hence, her happy gasp and tossing the candy apple into the nearest bin.

Confused, Carlos blurts out. “What? What is it?”

Jill snaps out of her happy state, but happily cries out in his face with both hands clutching on the collar of his black yukata and shaking him frantically. “It’s Kingyo Sukui!!”

Now even more confused, Carlos tries to repeat the words. “King-you-what now??”

“Goldfish Catching! Over here!” Jill led the way again, or rather basically tugging Carlos along who tried to keep pace with Jill till stopping them at the gaming booth surrounded with families, fathers and mothers watching their sons and daughters play the popular children’s game.

The two watched from behind with Carlos, still confused as ever, trying to peek over the crowd, watching as the children were gathering swift goldfishes into a bowl while Jill was beaming her heart out as she was very familiar with the game. Carlos begins to think this wasn’t just some normal game to Jill, but a meaningful one, a personal one, something special to her heart by the way she was ecstatic and cheering the children on as if they were her own, which brought him back to France where she showed that same precious motherly smile to the children that had gathered around her in Paris, but again, Carlos didn’t think much of it, just glad to see Jill happy as ever, and then it happens, a spot opening up through one of the other vendors yelling out.

‘Who is up next?!’ in Japanese, triggering Jill fast as could be as she beamed at Carlos. “Let’s go!”

“How ‘bout let’s not.” Carlos said out of fear, but having no choice, the laughing Jill pulled him along with her and came to a screeching halt at the stand where other players gathered and where Carlos just blinked down at the pool of goldfish swimming about.

The next thing Carlos knew is Jill pressing a small bowl against his chest that he bobbled and nearly dropped, but secured it, followed by Jill grabbing his right hand, opening it and placing a small circular tool of thin paper in his palm, leaving him more at a loss as he yet again just blinks at the cheerful Jill dusting her hands and placing them on her hips with a mischievous grin.

“Ready to play my favorite game when I was a little girl?”

“Umm, no, not uh… not really.”

“Too bad. Now, here’s the objective.” Jill began, grabbing her own bowl and tool that she showed right in front of Carlos’s still startled face who flinched back. “This is called a ‘poi’.”

“Poi?”

“Yes, poi. It’s made of thin paper that you use to scoop the goldfish in and dump into the bowl, but beware.”

“Why’s that?”

“The paper can easily tear apart with too much contact from the water, but good news. The goldfish you catch, you get to keep!” Jill cheerfully completed, clinking the tool against the bowl rapidly over and over again in Carlos’s face that he kindly brushed away with a soft chuckle.

“All right, all right, I get it. Mission Objective: Scoop the poor fish into the bowl. Sounds easy.”

“Sounds easy, but just you wait and see. You didn’t scoop up this ‘tall drink of water’ as I recall so easily, now did you?” Jill said with a wink.

“Uh-huh…” Carlos went flushed with no comeback, and he had no time to recollect himself as the vendor commenced the competition through a whistle.

All six contestants of various, including Carlos and Jill, got underway, and Jill didn’t miss a beat, quickly, precisely and gracefully scooping up fish by fish into the bowl with little harm to the poi. She was having so much fun that she felt like a little girl again. Becoming a member of STARS, becoming a founding member of the BSAA, all the accolades she has achieved throughout her life were nothing compared to the happiness she went through in France and now here in Japan, and by the time the final whistle blew, Jill’s bowl was full with a school of goldfish.

“Hah! Still got it!” Jill said proudly of herself with the vendor announcing the final result. “And our winner is our own Jill Valentine!”

Applause ensued for their national treasure, and Jill returns the love back by bowing and sending happy waves, but there was a sad face, a little girl next to her that was sadly looking down at her bowl where there was only two fishes until many more came. Fish after fish was being dumped into the little girl’s bowl that when it’s finished, she looks up at Jill just smiling away.

“Go on now… they’re yours.” Again, Jill says this in Japanese, and the little girl’s spirits were glowing like her smile that shined at her inspiration.

The girl then ran off to her mother, and there was that fleeting glimpse where Jill saw herself in that little girl, the fleeting memory rushing to her mother and being picked up, hugged, and being ambushed by kisses while hearing those very words she never forgot, and they were,

‘I love you, my Jiru!”

With that fleeting memory of remembering hearing her name in Japanese, Jill held her emotions back, but still happy to see the little girl with her mother who was just as happy as could be and smiling right back at Jill. It too much more strength to shake off the emotions swelling inside of her, but once she did after a deep breath and the crowd going about their own ways, there would be that comfort that only Carlos could provide through Carlos being, well… Carlos because when Jill turns back to him, she blinks at Carlos looking down at his empty bowl. Yes, it was empty, but how and why is what had Jill wondering since his poi was still intact, quite actually in way better condition than hers. Now the question is the one Jill would say so herself.

“Carlos, your poi is completely in perfect condition. What happened?”

“The fishes…”

“And…?”

Carlos hunches over, his shoulders slumping as he sheds a beaten huff. “They were too fast.”

“Wait, what, hold on.” Jill had to recollect herself as a comical exchange ensues. “Ok, let me get this straight. You were able to save me in the beginning of the outbreak from the Nemesis, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“Then you bought me enough time to get back to the subway, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“Then you found the vaccine in a hospital full of Hunters, cured me and watched over me for hours, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“Then you guided me and used the crane to help me against the Nemesis, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“THEN… you stopped Nicholai, correct?”

“Well… we both did that, but yeah.”

“So, ahem,” Jill clears her throat, “so help me out here because I’m having trouble trying to wrap this around my head. How is it that you could do all those things but not catch a single fish?”

Carlos’s explanation? It was just him defending himself. “Hey, these fishes are quick as heck. They’re tough!”

“Yeah, but might I add that you can punch a Hunter in the face.” Jill counters right back, and so does Carlos. “That’s beside the point! You never told me these fish can do what they do!”

“Which is?”

“Swim their tails off better than that fuckface you said couldn’t swim.” Carlos lowly whispered, earning a giggle from Jill in remembering those very words about the Tyrant.

“Ok, true, but that’s all fish do, Carlos, is swim, and they’re not tails. They’re called fins.”

“Same thing!” Carlos ended as a spoiled child would with arms folded and looking away, resembling a sore loser if there ever was one, but Jill finds it cute, laughing as she latched onto his arm like in the beginning. “Know what? Let’s end our night by introducing you to someone very special to me, someone I never introduced anybody to before.”

“And who might that be?” Carlos asked with a raised brow, and Jill answers with no hesitation, did so lovingly. “My mother.”

For all intents and purposes, Carlos was undoubtedly in utter shock while with her loving smile, Jill leads the way, only this time, it’s a through a secluded trail leading away from the village that the further they got, the less they could hear the bustling sounds of the festival fade till the only noise were that of the crickets chirping. As the trail went on, neither spoke, so Carlos steals a somber glance at the side of Jill’s face and able to catch the loving smile on her face still ever present, if not stronger for they were nearing the most special place to Jill’s heart, and Carlos will become the first and only person in their family of friends to see it as they came to an open clearing where a lone traditional Japanese home stood alone and away from the village.

“Well… here we are.” Jill quietly said with again all the love in the world.

Meanwhile, Carlos was ever humbled, in awe of the home that was in perfect condition, as if Jill’s mother resided within, which brought him to assume that she was alive all along, but he was about to find out himself what Jill meant by ‘introducing’. 

He would first snap out of his awe state as Jill led the way towards her mother’s home where upon arrival, Jill slides those doors open. 

At first sight, there was nothing to be found in the open and wide space that was illuminated by only the glow of the moonlight, but there it was for Carlos to see when Jill steps to the side, giving way for Carlos to discover the truth, a sad one. Jill’s mother was not alive, but she did forever remain in Jill’s heart and in the loving memory through the family shrine that held many flower pots with unlit candleholders and incense burners, all surrounding a lone picture of an elderly woman… Jill’s mother.

She donned a beautiful white kimono with pink butterflies, sitting with hands sweetly folded over her lap and showing the same loving smile as Jill’s, just like her short brown hair was in the exact same style as Jill’s when he first met her back in Raccoon City, and the resemblance alone overwhelmed Carlos that he again blinked out of this state after another loving whisper from Jill.

“Come sit with me.”

Still, nothing from the overwhelmed Carlos, breathless and speechless as Jill takes his hand and leads the way for what would be the last for the night.

Both Jill and Carlos would sit in traditional fashion, on their knees over the mat, and Carlos would then watch as Jill grabs a matchbox she always made sure to have on the altar. She pulls out a single match, striking it lit with the swipe of her thumb and begins to ignite candle after candle that lights up the room, followed by igniting incense after incense that when finished, Jill blew out the match. The sweet aroma filled the air, and with the light now glowing about the shrine, the atmosphere just grew more deeply to Carlos, and if it didn’t, it was Jill settling herself back next to Carlos with hands softly resting on her knees, her head down with eyes softly closed, but that smile remained, and Carlos would keep his eyes open, watching and listening.

“Mom,” Jill commences, softly as ever, “I’m sorry I haven’t visited you as often lately, but remember how I told you I was surrounded by so many loving friends that are brothers and sisters to me? How I told you that I wasn’t alone anymore? How I told you I found the person you always wanted for me years ago? Well, here he finally is… Carlos Oliveira.”

He should’ve been happy, he should’ve been smiling like Jill was, but he wasn’t, but Carlos was humbled, looking up to the picture of Jill’s mother and felt it, feeling the smile in the picture, and as for Jill, she wasn’t finished as the string of compliments and precious memories ensued that has Carlos looking back at Jill, her head still low and still smiling, sometimes even warmly giggling through the words she spoke.

“He’s handsome that I have to tell other women to keep their distance. He’s so romantic that he kept calling a four-star restaurant over and over again till they caved in and gave us a reservation. He’s so protective of me that he always make sure I have everything secured before seeing me off for an operation, and it doesn’t just stop with me, mom. He’s always there for Chris and Leon whenever the weight of having the world on their shoulders gets heavy. He’s always there for Claire when politics gets stressful and always there for Rebecca when losing a patient. Even Barry and Kathy, they both love him like the son they never had, and their girls too, everybody does. He’s makes us all smile and laugh like you wouldn’t believe, but saying all that, Carlos does get annoying at times.”

Jill quietly giggles out and could feel Carlos smiling at her and also hear a snort of a chuckle, but in her conclusion was Jill, returning to her serious-self, and this is the moment the revelation comes for Carlos, the revelation she couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Mom, I love you so much. It may be a while again before I come back, but before I leave this morning, there’s something else, one last thing I want you to know… I want you to know that you’re going to be a grandmother.”

The bombshell was dropped, and no surprise, Carlos shot such a stunned gaze at Jill that it took everything to not gasp. 

Regarding Jill, she at long last opens her eyes, but they remain down out of the fear she always held, fearing Carlos’s reaction, so the longer the silence endured, the more her fear grew, so she would break that silence herself, a dry, yet breathless whisper that held an aching air to it at the same time.

“Say something… anything, Carlos.”

That would be easier said than done for the one knowing he was to be a father, a task like no other in his life that surpassed all of the missions he had been part of as a guerilla and a mercenary of the UBCS. One may think why Carlos was so doubtful of himself, but this was on a personal level. It didn’t involve doing what he does best, killing bioweapons. It involved being a loving father and the personal aspect of it all for when Carlos looks down, it's at his own hands that held blood from his past, forced to do horrible things during his guerrilla and Umbrella days that he couldn’t imagine holding his child with those very tainted hands. He would have to move on from it, from his past that will come with time, but other than that history, there was also Jill and her commitment to the BSAA, so when Carlos still had yet to answer, Jill presses again in another whisper.

“You don’t want the baby, do you? I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Always strong, always composed, this is when Jill felt the back of her eyes that she tightly closed starting to burn and regretting it all, kicking herself for not waiting at the right time, but would she be ever wrong when she feels a soft pressure coming over her knees. Jill opens her tear-filled eyes and finds herself looking down at Carlos, laying back with his head resting on her knees and solemnly gazing up to her, just like his hand reached up to cup her cheek and brush those pale blond bangs away from her saddened eyes while his thumb trailed gentle circles around her cheek.

“Jill…I always wanted this, but I want you to hear me out, alright?”

“Yes, Carlos.” Jill breathlessly said as she again closed her eyes, keeping her tears from leaking, but her ears listening.

“Jill… I’m gonna be the one with the easy job, staying put and teaching our child the rights and wrongs of life. I’m gonna be doing all the caring, being that stay-at-home dad while you’re gonna be out there being a mother kicking ass and making a better world, and I don’t mind this like I told you before. I know you too well to settle down, but that’s what I’m trying to say. I want you to think about your position in all of this, Jill. Imagine what you’re gonna be putting yourself through when you’re gonna be on duty most of the time, rarely there for the baby. Are you gonna be okay with that?”

Jill had no argument to counter Carlos for he was right in every way. 

He will be that stay-at-home dad, always there for their child while she would be that ‘kickass’ mother like Carlos had put it, making sure their child would live in a peaceful world without bioterrorism, something she never would want their child to go through, so when Jill understood, when she does see eye-to-eye with Carlos’s words, Jill brings a hand over his that still kept trailing a thumb around her cheek, and she keeps it there. Then comes a little surprise for Carlos, which was Jill placing a gentle kiss against his palm when afterwards, those eyes open up and down to Carlos, a single teardrop falling onto Carlos’s forehead as it was him now listening.

“I might not be there to see our baby take the first step, hear our baby say the first word or even see our child off to school for the first class, but I am ready, Carlos… I want this… to have that slice of heaven to return to after every operation, you and our baby… the family I always wanted.”

Jill ends it there, but with the sudden eruption of Carlos smiling, more tears continued to now leak down her cheeks and fall onto Carlos’s smiling face, never minding it whatsoever as he would say so. “You know what this means, then, right, Jill?”

“No, I don’t!” Jill happily shot out, the tears still flowing. “What does it mean, Carlos?”

“Gotta ask good ol’ Barry for some father tips ‘cause I never changed a diaper in my life.”

That did it for Jill, all the reassurance to know all was well with Carlos’s laughter, and Jill was laughing right with him, dipping down to hug his entire head over her knees and happily crying into his neck, their laughter muffled together and their bodies shaking as it got louder for our newly awaiting father and mother.

As for the grandmother of their expected child, Jill’s mother was not there, but was she ever happy, watching her daughter, watching from the heavens… happy… simply happy to see her daughter going on smiling and laughing as Carlos rolled Jill over the mat, one trying to playfully overpower the other, and that is when her mother stopped watching, knowing her daughter was in good hands.

Jill Valentine, her Jiru would be just absolutely fine in Carlos Oliveira’s arms, but an unexpected visit to another country was yet to come that Jill will schedule to the only place, the only country where Carlos could confront the demons of his past.

His homeland of Brazil…


	3. Brazil

With the revelation out, Jill feels free as can be and ready to make their last stop in Canada to visit the Barry, Kathy and the girls, but as she stood in the busy airport, her eyes were focused on a certain flight that matched their scheduled one on the ticker board…

Their flight was slated for Canada while at the same time there was another flight slated for Brazil, and Jill already had done all the work without going over it with Carlos. 

Why do so when she already knew he wouldn’t approve of switching their tickets for the flight to Brazil, but she did it anyway to clear the past if they were to move on completely, though in Carlos’s case, it was difficult as any other as the bad blood remained in his country for playing a role in the failed coup to overthrow the government all those years ago as a young guerrilla soldier. The pardon he received with the help of Jill, Chris, Barry, Rebecca and the entire BSAA didn’t matter when all along it was Carlos to let it be. Carlos was fine with it, he didn’t want to go back, he was happy where he was and the friends he had, never needing anything more, but when it came to Jill, it went back to that, for him to move on, and there he is bringing Jill out of her deep concerned thoughts.

“Ready for some Kathy’s good ol’ cooking, Supercop?” Carlos, a joyful Carlos at that, wrapped his arms around Jill’s waist from behind, softly rocking them right and left in the busy Tokyo airport while back in their respective black and blue hoodies.

Jill doesn’t shy away, sweetly rocking with him with both their hands over her stomach, and just when their love couldn’t get any stronger, it had through this touching scene alone that showed how much of their love had dramatically increased with a baby on the way, though for now, Jill responds halfheartedly because there was still that concern in the back of her mind of how she changed their flight plan.

“Yeah, ready as can be, heh.”

Carlos didn’t buy into Jill’s lackluster of a response and the weak smile she sent him, so the rocking stops as he becomes concerned. “Something wrong, Jill?”

“N-No, everything’s—

‘ATTENTION,’ a woman’s voice sounded through the PA, ‘NOW BOARDING PASSENGERS FOR FLIGHTS TO TORONTO AND RIO DE JANEIRO. ATTENTION, NOW BOARDING PASSENGERS FOR FLIGHTS TO TORONTO AND RIO DE JANEIRO.’

The announcement ends that when it does, Jill leans down to grab her carry-on bag by her feet and sling it around her right shoulder before beaming a nervous smile at Carlos. “That’s us to Canada. Let’s get going.”

Off Jill went, and off she did in a hurry in that fast-walking fashion. 

Carlos got the sense there was something on her mind, but he doesn’t question it, just glad to be visiting the Burtons on their last stop, but unbeknownst to him, it would be his old home as he stared at the ticker board with much hate at the destination of ‘Rio De Janeiro’, the majority country of Brazil that disowned him and still held him as a common criminal despite the pardon and even being a founding member of the BSAA. So after Carlos gives a disgusted scoff, he adjusts his carry-on bag more comfortably around his shoulder and heads off for the airplane where just several minutes later, just as Carlos and Jill were settled into their seats, the flight attendant gives the announcement just as the airplane lifted off into the sky, and it was too little too late for Carlos to turn back.

“Thank you for choosing our airlines. Enjoy your flight to Brazil.”

All passengers were more than ready to enjoy the flight as the clapping and the cheering began from mostly the young passengers all the more excited to revel in the warm, sunny atmosphere of the vast South American tropical country, but not so excited was Carlos, as his surprised glare to Jill described as much, and to no one’s shock, Jill couldn’t look him in the eyes as hers were looking out the window, looking out to the city of Tokyo growing smaller the higher the airplane flew till it left their view entirely after climbing above the clouds. Jill would then hear him firmly whisper, and that firmness was enough for Jill to know Carlos was not happy judging by how he whispered it other than the firm fashion because it was how he flatly whispered it.

“Why’d you do it?”

Jill, she couldn’t bear to look back at Carlos, but she does whisper back. “Had to be done sooner or later, right? The former is always the best option. Get it over with.”

“Get it over with, seriously? Could’ve at least told me.”

“You and I both know you wouldn’t agree.”

“So why the hell would you do this?!” Carlos had shouted under his breath as to not attract attention, and Jill would finally turn to him, doing the same. “Because you have to stop running away!”

Jill remained in his face, and Carlos’s angry eyes softened the more he stared into the sincere air in Jill’s eyes till he could no longer stare that he just slumped back into his seat. 

Jill, however, would keep going whether Carlos wanted to hear it or not as he had no other choice. “You went through France and Japan with me, sharing all the love and memories I only shared with you, so the best you can do is return it, Carlos.”

He understood Jill’s argument, but it still didn’t sit well as he just brought an elbow over the armrest and brought a hand over his face to shield his eyes, but still whispers back. “Jill… there are no fuckin’ good memories or any fuckin’ love back in Brazil. This is different. You know that.”

“I know,” Jill began, now softly like her eyes did, “but that’s what I’m trying to say. It doesn’t have to be about all the bad things that happened in our past. I just want you to tell me, show me everything, all the memories you know and love about where you were born because even though you may hate it, you can’t run away from it, Carlos… no matter how hard you want to. Even if it’s just one spot, take me there.”

Carlos brought his hand down and looks into Jill’s saddened eyes. “It’s not so easy.”

Jill clings closer to him past her seat, grabbing onto his forearm. “Carlos, listen, as you know, we did everything to get the UN to pardon you. It’ll be okay.”

“No, it’s not. It’s not just the government or authorities I’m worried about. It’s the people… I don’t want you to see it.”

Jill softly backs just an inch from his face. “What do you mean?”

Carlos stays with Jill’s eyes for a moment till looking away, but Jill cups his chin to turn his face and let his somber eyes look into hers. “Don’t block me out, Carlos. Let me in.”

With all his heart, Carlos didn’t want to. He didn’t want to let Jill in that part of his life still tormenting him to this very day, but like Jill pleaded, Carlos couldn’t block her out as they were in this together for the long haul, so for now, Carlos would cut it short, simply saying, “I made lots of promises to you. I kept them. You remember, right?”

As if Jill didn’t remember, the most precious promise being the very first: Carlos coming back with the vaccine and saving her.

“Yes, of course I remember all the promises you kept, Carlos, and will never forget them, but why do you ask?”

“Because I never asked anything from you, but this time, I want you to promise me something… will you?”

“Anything.”

Carlos got Jill’s reassurance, and even though he did, there was still that slight hesitation to involve her in a personal matter that wasn’t hers, but all his, but they have come this far in their relationship that he knew Jill wanted no secrets, nothing hidden in the closet, wanted everything bad to be swept away from their pasts, so after a deep breath, Carlos would ask Jill, his eyes deeply gazing into hers, both pair holding the same somber air.

“I’ll show you everything. Wherever you want to go, the important parts in my life, I’ll show you, but when we land there can be no contact of any kind. Even holding hands is out of the picture. Not just that, I want you to promise me that if things go wrong, if someone, some old prick I pissed off in the past, an officer or some government official trying to trigger me, promise me that you’ll stay out of it… don’t try to cut in and protect me, all right? Just keep walking.”

Jill wouldn’t have it. “Bullshit. We’re in this together.”

“Always, but I’m leading the way this time. So promise me, Jill… promise that you won’t get involved if things get bad.”

Jill, as much as she didn’t want to agree, she would since after all, this was her plan, but will have to abide by Carlos’s rules, and she does, promising him, but vaguely. “Yeah… I promise… a promise you could’ve just simply put as just stay the fuck away, how’s that?”

“Jill, that’s not what I—

“Just wake me up when we get there.”

Just when everything seemed perfect, when everything was going their way, there was always that little dilemma causing a rift in any relationship, and this was their first as Carlos would sadly watch Jill turn her entire body to the window, her back to him making Carlos know it would be no good to even try to reach out, so he lets her be for the entire flight to Brazil. Many hours later, Carlos and Jill exit the airport with hundreds of others passengers while hundreds more were entering the airport for their next flight to another destination, but going back to Carlos and Jill, they stopped and stared at another seven wonders of the world. In Jill’s case before, it was the Eiffel Tower, but now it was Carlos, the towering Christ the Redeemer Statue looking over all over the city, which left Jill in awe, staring up at the statue in the distance.

“It’s different…seeing it in person doesn’t compare to pictures, don’t you think, Carlos… Carlos?”

Carlos is quiet, and by the way he gives a cold shoulder, Jill knew he wasn’t fond of the monument, no less his cold reply. “Seen it all my life. Just another damn statue to me… let’s go book our room first.”

Carlos walks ahead, and Jill would follow suit with a sad face as she tried her best to move them both on, but this was Carlos’s time, and she knew it would take patience, so she goes on ahead, walking with Carlos through the busy sidewalks with the bustling crowd of other people, and as much as she wanted to take his hand, she kept her promise. She kept her hand away, both walking as if they were your ordinary tourists, the streets rampant with those on bikes, taxis and automobiles of all kinds driving by, and this is where Jill gets her first look as to why Carlos never wanted to return back. It didn’t matter that he was walking with a renowned, famous operative as Jill was from stopping them to give Carlos disgusted looks, some even pointing him out and even saying cursed words with the most common being ‘traitor’ and ‘communist’ under their breath from those that past by him, but it would get worse when a man passing by Carlos’s delivers a harsh shoulder brush, and that was it for Jill.

“Hey!” Jill being Jill was ever ready to make her thoughts known as she was about all ready to defend Carlos, but Carlos catches her wrist, thus, a surprised Jill looking back at Carlos tugging her along and not even looking back. 

“Leave it alone.”

Jill couldn’t fathom it, but once more, she promised him, and by the time they booked their room, there’s Carlos sitting at the foot of the bed, hunched over with elbows on his knees and his head down while Jill was impatiently pacing back and forth in front of him, all while trying to keep calm.

“I don’t get this, I really fuckin’ don’t. How can they treat you like this in your own country? Being a founding member of the BSAA? Being an advisor? Even after everything you’ve done for me?”

“You think they give a shit?” Carlos repeated his friend, Tyrell’s words, and it had him weakly chuckling, but not so happy was Jill, stopping her pacing and shouting down at him. “Well I do give a shit!”

Carlos wants to look up, but doesn’t, sighing would be enough.

Jill, however, also sighs, but it’s to calm herself as she slumps next to Carlos, her head also low. “Carlos… I’m sorry for doing this… I didn’t think it would’ve been this bad and—

“Come with me.”

Jill is stopped short, not even realizing that Carlos had stood up with such a warm smile down at her that it left Jill breathless, and this is when Carlos slips on the hood of his black hoodie and then extends his right hand down. “Want to you show my old home. It’ll just be us, so c’mon.”

Those words resonated within Jill, and she regained her smile, but all was not clear as Jill would say so herself. “Two people walking out together in hoodies at night in a foreign country? Suspicious or inconspicuous?”

“How ‘bout amorous.” Carlos chided back, and oh did Jill laugh.

She stands and slips on her hood. “Sounds like a plan then. Lead the way.”

Carlos smiles back, but as he turns, Jill grabs his hand, and when he looks back, her smile shines brighter under the hood. “Together this time. No matter what.”

Takes a few seconds to digest Jill’s ultimatum, but Carlos doesn’t debate it.

Carlos then leads the way out of the hotel and into the city, walking through the streets full of tourists and civilians that failed to make them out while Jill got a hint where Carlos was leading them. It was the tier after tier of houses which were called the favelas, and Jill’s assumption went straight into her mind that there is where Carlos was born and raised in the rough confines, but she would be wrong for Carlos kept on going in what would be a reminiscent to Jill showing Carlos her mother’s secluded home. He passed through the many alley paths of the favelas, leading them further away from the city and into not a forest, but the Amazon Jungle that connected with the rest of the vast South American continent.

Jill would be led into an open clearing after Carlos brushes away the last line of bushes, and there it was, numerous homes, a village that was burned to the ground many years ago, save for one home, and so Jill sadly stares, listening to Carlos give his introduction in a sarcastic, saddened fashion.

“Well, here you are… welcome to Chateau de Oliveira.”

The home was rundown, charred, but remained standing, remnants of the past, but once Carlos takes the first step, Jill softly asks, “You once told me you asked Umbrella for a change in identity.”

“Yeah, and?” Carlos said without turning around, and Jill was ever the wiser. “And you wouldn’t have said that name if you—

“I changed it to my mom’s…” Carlos swiftly cuts her off, but still doesn’t turn. “I wanted nothing to do with my old man. Hell, I can’t even remember what his last name was, and I could care less, so I took my mother’s maiden name when I joined Umbrella and asked for a new identity. That ain’t wrong of me, is it?”

Jill doesn’t think less at all since this is what she sought, for Carlos to put all this behind, as she would say, coming up to his side. “No, it’s not wrong. I’m sure your mother would love it. I know I do. You’ll always be Carlos Oliveira to me.”

Carlos, though he shouldn’t be, was surprise to find Jill smiling back at him, but Carlos’s past wouldn’t stop there. 

They enter the old dilapidated home, the door creaking open, and there was nothing with the exception of the moonlight that shined over a lone table where a lone picture was set upon that captivated Jill’s eyes, much so that it caused her to instinctively walk to it where each step brought her heart to beat more and more. Jill grabs it and delicately brushes her hand along the picture to swipe away the dust with much carefulness, revealing a beautiful woman of bronze skin and long brown mahogany brown hair that flowed past her exposed shoulders from the white dress while on her lap was a boy 5 years of age, wearing the national colors of the Brazilian football team, the yellow shirt and blue shorts, though it was the physical appearance that stood out to Jill as the boy’s hair was the same shade of mahogany brown that was parted down the middle and straight, both holding the same striking smile.

Jill would softly ask again. “This is her… your mother, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“And the boy in the picture?” 

This is when Carlos lowers his head since this was the moment Umbrella came in, asking them for the change of appearance in exchange for his services when they bought his freedom, so when no answer came, Jill turns right back to Carlos, and she already knew by his posture.

“That’s you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… that’s me.”

Jill looks back at the boy in the picture with that straight brown hair, a complete difference to the jet-black moppy curls Carlos had, but the change of identity, the change of appearance did nothing as the entire country still knew who he truly was because though the pardon may have given his freedom back, it also exposed him, the world and all of Brazil knowing of the fail coup. At the same time, they had the respect to not desecrate his mother’s home and the only thing he had left of her, the picture Jill was sadly holding in her hands, but she would smile in the end.

“She’s beautiful…” Jill whispered a heartfelt one, such as her giggle. “And you were a cute little boy.”

Jill tried to make things lighter of the situation, but Carlos didn’t return the love, stonewalling Jill that she lost all her happiness, especially with how he turned back for the door as he couldn’t stand being there any longer. “It’s getting late. Time to head back.”

Jill blinked out of her happy state, but she wouldn’t let Carlos off the hook so easily as she called out. “You could at least turn your ass around right now and see what’s in this picture!”

Carlos does so, slamming the door shut, and would emotions ever spark up. “You wanna know what I see?” 

He approaches her while going on a string of shouts that get louder with each one. “You wanted me to show you the most important place in my life?! Where here it is! And you know what I see every time I look at that damn picture?! A boy raised in a dump with a dad that was never there and having to see his mom coming home after busting her ass off every night!”

“A mom who did everything for her boy!”

“A boy who didn’t amount to a damn thing!”

“A boy who grew up with all the odds against him and saved my life!”

“A boy who became a soldier, all to take down the very fuckin’ government that took his mom’s life!”

With that revelation out, Jill steps back, her sadness returning while Carlos’s own sadness mixed with the anger, a look he left Jill with before leaving the house and slamming the door shut once more. It would take a few moments for Jill to recollect herself, but when she does, Jill settles the picture back down on the table and steps outside, glad to see Carlos still there, sitting on the top step of the porch and looking up to the starry night. She joins his side, but neither one is quick to say a word, and as much a Jill wants to ask him about how exactly the government at the time took his mother’s life, she lets him decide when or even if he wanted to talk about it, and he would let her know, which starts off with Carlos slipping off the hood.

“The Cold War,” Carlos begins the sorrowful story, his eyes now down while Jill had hers on Carlos, able to hear his rare sniffles that was the first for Jill, “South America was up for grabs. I didn’t care about politics, but it’s when things got out of hand. Leaders being assassinated. Coups being launched. All the propaganda. The worse it got, my mom decided to ditch the city, so she made our home here, away from everything, and we were safe up till when…when…”

“When what, Carlos?” Jill whispers in ache, wanting to know, and the same ache was in Carlos’s whisper. “On the night I turned 12… the entire village was raided by soldiers. They thought the village was a rebel camp, some haven for them, so they gunned down everyone and anyone, even women… and my mom while trying to get away. They shot her in the back, and know what she told me, Jill?”

Her throat hoarse and fighting back the burning of her eyes, Jill remains strong as she asks. “What did she tell you?”

“Run,” Carlos said with such a hurtful chuckle if there ever was one, staying true to who he was, ever positive as he went on, but it didn’t go without a lone tear dropping, the first one Jill ever saw from him. “That was the last word I heard from her, so I ran while she kept on smiling, and that’s that. I grew up with a pack of mercenaries that took me in and swore to take down the government after they covered it up, but I didn’t learn anything. Me in that picture with my mom… that was the last time I felt happy with myself. I’m not who you think I am.”

“What do you mean, Carlos?” Jill shuddered out.

Carlos, unable to look Jill in the eyes, basically looks ahead at the surrounding jungle as his mind wandered back. “Been holding a gun since I was 14. I got my first kill when I was 16. Those memories don’t go away. No kid should have to go through that, but that’s the thing. I’m gonna have a child of my own. How the hell am I supposed to hold our baby with these hands? Hands that killed living people, which is a big fuckin’ difference from killing the undead if you ask me that’s for damn sure. I can’t live with that.”

Jill, saddened as she was, would not, would never let their gift, their child become a problem, so she had the right words, and she starts it when Carlos feels the soft pressure against his shoulder, which was Jill resting her head against it along with her hand coming over his. “Answer me, Carlos… do you remember why I brought us here?”

Carlos kept his eyes down at the top of Jill’s head till looking down at their hands over his right knee when Jill entwined their fingers, and entwines them even tighter as he swallows a dry, sad lump. “Confronting the past… what about it?”

“Your mother, if she was here right now, she would say it. She would say that you don’t have to run anymore. You can finally move on, and as for these hands of yours, hands that did everything to rescue as many civilians in RC, hands that saved my life, they will be holding my baby… our baby, and there’s nothing or anybody could do or say that could convince me otherwise from knowing you’re going to be a loving father.”

The love in those words from Jill, it was like no other Carlos ever heard, an entire country, his own country of millions disowning him when one love, just Jill’s love was all that he needed, and it resulted in another tear dropping from Carlos, a tear that Jill felt dropping atop of her head that she couldn’t help but to smile and open her eyes that were filled with tears of her own where one had yet to leak down, but when looking up to Carlos, they closed right back up when she captures his lips with hers, and Carlos goes with it, his eyes softly closing with a hand sliding to the back of her waist and the other sliding to the back of her neck to strengthen the kiss as he brought her closer to him when there was no need, considering Jill pressed closer in his arms that embraced her, and as their kiss grew stronger, so did the passion.

Eventually, they both would pull back, breaking the kiss that left them both gasping for air, feeling each other’s heated breath brushing over their lips while in their eyes were both reflecting that passion they couldn’t contain, and with it, Jill shudders out breathlessly to what both were thinking, and what Jill badly wanted.

“Let’s get back to the hotel, Carlos… I need you.”

No other hint was needed to know what Jill sought, Carlos himself that come the early morning hours, 2 in the morning to be precise, Carlos was leaning against the side of the balcony in just black boxers with arms crossed over his bare chest while his soft eyes were out to the city still lively as ever and enjoying the cool summer night. 

A gentle breeze then sweeps in through their room, causing those black curls of his to sway like the white curtains behind him, a breeze that also caused a quiet moan that brought Carlos to peer past his shoulder, seeing Jill stirring in her sleep, but she settled back into full slumber, her naked body underneath the sheets that covered her body from her chest down to her thighs. As she slept, Jill had an arm out over the side where Carlos should’ve been resting by her side, but sleep was hard to come by whereas Jill was sound asleep and holding such a heavenly smile, a smile she always had after sharing their love. For Carlos, he would eventually smile before walking away from the balcony and making his way around the bed.

Carlos tries his best to not disturb Jill’s sleep, being the alert and keen operative she was, but he is successful, having slowly and gently wrap his arm around her waist with his hand coming over her stomach from behind as Carlos brought them into that spooning position, and he does so without interrupting her sleep. Even now, how he reached over her body to reach for her hand to entwined them together, followed by drawing gentle circles with his thumb atop her hand as he always had done, and yet, still did not wake her, but little did he know that she was awake when she hears him whisper behind her neck that came with the soft closing of his eyes and the last smile of the long emotional night that with the help of Jill, made him move on.

“I was right… you’re not like anybody… thank you so much…I love you, Jill.”

They rarely ever spoke those three words since they knew it didn’t have to be said for they always felt it, but this time, this moment, it was ever special as Jill wasn’t asleep as Carlos had thought, her eyes opening with her lips stretching into a smile, only to silently mouth those very same words.

“I love you, too… so much, Carlos…” 

With their pasts now behind them, now they can look to the future with the company of friends like no one could ever have, but who better to help him when it came to being expecting father and mother than the knowledgeable married couple to help them on their way, Barry and Kathy Burton.

So Canada it is next for our beloved heroes, who not only awaited parent tips, but also, Kathy’s delicious cooking…


	4. Canada

Our beloved pair arrive in Canada that differed from the weather of all the other stops they made as it was the Winter Solstice in the Great White North, hence, Jill in her blue BSAA parka and Carlos in his black BSAA peacoat on a cold afternoon, and being the warm climate person he was, Carlos always struggled with the winter season, but Jill was always there to provide the body warmth, walking arm-in-arm with Carlos through the busy airport full of people making the trip to spend the holidays with their relatives and families. In Jill’s and Carlos’ case, it was visiting Barry and Kathy, though as they had yet to arrive, and it just made Carlos shiver more when he and Jill stepped out of the airport and into the snowy atmosphere, and there’s Jill clinging ever closer and giggling like all the times she did to seeing Carlos’ bronze cheeks lit up from the cold.

“Aww, my poor Romeo is freezing again.”

“You always find it cute when I’m freezing my butt off. Also, where the heck is Barry?!” Carlos groans, rubbing at his shoulders as they waited for their ride that Jill would mention after reaching up to give a peck of a kiss to Carlos’ cold cheek.

“Just hold on a bit longer. Barry and Kathy will be here soon to pick us up.”

“Can’t we just take a cab to their place?” Carlos whines, and it got him a playful elbow to the ribs that he clutches at. “Ow.”

Another giggle from Jill, her warm breath showing in the cold air. “No, we’re staying put, and that’s an order.”

“Ugh… copy that, Supercop.” Carlos said in defeat that just added to the long list of playful victories for Jill, and another warm laugh from her that again showed in the cold air, but then it comes, a cheerful cry from a 16-year-old young teenage girl, and it was as such.

“Aunt Jill! Uncle Carlos!”

They both turn, and sure enough, it was Polly Burton in a pink coat, her blonde hair with dark roots swaying as she ran up the stairs of the airport’s entrance where the smiling pair of Jill and Carlos awaited, and it was Carlos stepping back with a chuckle as he would see another resemblance of Jill being a loving mother when Polly launched herself into Jill with arms wrapping around her waist with such loving force that it spun them around twice. A sweetly laughing Jill would stabilized them prior to looking down and cupping Polly’s cold cheeks that were ever warm from her stretched out smile.

“My, oh, my look at you, Polly… ever beautiful.”

Polly could only giggle at the praise. “Missed you so, so much!”

“Missed you, too, Polly, so much.” Jill says right back before turning her attention to the other Burton sibling.

Both she and Carlos watch with not smiles, but with weary grins as they didn’t expect anything less from the 19-year-old tomboyish Moira Burton, still in that rebellious phase as the evidence said as much. The evidence was the dark makeup, a dark parka and a purple beanie over her short jet-black hair, but no other evidence stood out more than the right nostril and bottom lip piercings that surprised Jill and Carlos. Nevertheless, though now an adult, the rebel Moira walked up the stairs with all the concentration focused on texting on her cellphone that would be snatched away by not Jill, but Carlos.

“Hey, what the fu—

“Don’t wanna finish that sentence, Mo.” Carlos’ cutoff was swift and amusing as he just smiled where Moira sent a stern gaze at him, but she couldn’t hold back as she laughed to the nickname Carlos had for her, and even though she always love it, she would also cringe at it.

“Ugh, quit calling me that, but heya! Didn’t see you there.”

“Maybe ‘cause you’re on your phone 24/7?”

“Maybe, so, umm… yeah! Wanna give me my phone back now?”

“Actually, how ‘bout I take a look at what’s so more important than me and Jill here, shall I?” Carlos teased, and there’s Jill covering her laughter to Moira trying to reach for her phone that Carlos stretched out of her reach. “C’mon, quit the crap, Carlos!”

“She was only texting her giiiirl--friiiiend.” Polly spilled the beans in that singsong fashion, the revelation stunning both Jill and Carlos while a blushing Moira immediately turned to her grinning little sister. “Polly, you big-mouth-brat!”

Polly giggles as she took cover behind Jill and Carlos, the two also laughing as they protected her where once again, resembled loving parents by trying quell the problem between the siblings with Carlos going first. “Hey, now, calm down.”

Followed by Jill, happy of all. “No need to act like that, Moira. Love the news that you found somebody.”

Moira repeats what Carlos has been doing, which was Moira groaning, and Carlos would keep on with the teasing. “Seems like our firecracker found a match to ignite her. Let’s see who it is!”

It amused Jill to now see Carlos in that father atmosphere, teasing Moira, but then there’s Jill being that protective, guardian mother as he grabbed Moira’s phone from Carlos before he is able to peek at the screen. “Not so fast there.”

Jill hands the phone back to Moira while Carlos sighs. “Saved by Supercop herself. Count your lucky stars, Moira. Get it? See what I just did there? Stars.”

If there was ever a pun that would make those who heard it cringe, it was this one as Jill groaned while Moira shuddered. “Ugh, you’re starting to sound like dad with his bad dad jokes.”

“Hey, gotta start warming up.” When Carlos said those words that hinted at one thing and one thing only, the Burton sisters froze up and exchange the same shocked look.

Moira would then immediately turn that shocked gaze towards the pair. “No… fuckin… way.”

“Way.” Carlos confirmed with a grin, and Moira just blinks at the heartfelt smile that shined across Jill’s face that was another confirmation where meanwhile, Polly swiftly paces around from hiding behind Jill and Carlos to beam up at them. “Really?! Are you really preggy, Aunt Jill?!”

Jill’s heartfelt smile went with her heartfelt, bubbly laughter. “By ‘preggy’ as if you mean ‘pregnant’, then yes. I’m expecting.”

Did Polly ever expressed her excitement, hopping up and down around the pair in circles. “Yays! Yays! Yays!”

While Polly was showing the level of how joyful she was of the news, Moira was still stuck in her shocked state, but she would snap out of it to embrace both Jill and Carlos, her right arm around Jill, and her left arm around Carlos, the pair laughing together as Moira was letting it all out, giggling that came with happy sobs, and they knew what to expect from Moira when she pulled back. Jill and Carlos weren’t surprised to see those tears of happiness that made a bit of her dark mascara run.

“Oh my God,” Moira sniffled out, “I’m so fuckin happy for you two! Can’t wait till mom and dad hear about this! They’re gonna be so stoked! Actually, I’m gonna call ‘em right now!”

Moira couldn’t hold herself back, but now it’s Jill snatching the phone. “Ah, ah, now, Moira.”

The oldest Burton daughter blinked at Jill, who wags a finger, but still smiling. “Leave it to me and Carlos to tell your parents, okay?”

Moira oh-so wanted to be the one to break the news, though understood and caves in with a soft whine, but also still smiling like Jill. “Fine, fine, now let’s go! C’mon, sis!”

“Woohoo!” Polly lets out one more cheerful cry and went off with Moira, but stopping them both short was Carlos. “Whoa, whoa, wait a sec, you mean Barry and Kathy aren’t here to pick us up?”

Moira’s answer was a swift one, proudly pulling out a set of keys and twirling them around her finger. “Ta-da! Saved up enough from my Terra Save internship to get my own wheels, so I’ll be your driver for the ride back to our place!”

Jill and Carlos were just as proud, if not more proud than Moira herself when one day they will get to see their own daughter or son become successful as Moira, and so they went with Moira leading the way, driving through the downtown streets of Toronto. Polly was seated in the passenger seat while Jill and Carlos were in the back, and they couldn’t help but to reflect weary smiles at each other the moment Moira blasted rock music of her favorite band where Polly was obviously used to it, but annoyed, mind you, as she kept lowering it, only for Moira to raise the volume up even higher that Jill had to shout over it and ask a question about another in their family of friends, who will eventually become Moira’s superior.

“Moira, you and Terra Save! How’s it been going so far with Claire?! And how’s Barry taking it?!”

“What?!” Moira shouted back, and Jill repeats her shout, though this time leaning forward. “You working for Terra Save! How’s Barry been taking it so far?!”

“What?!” Moira’s response was the same, and that’s when Polly lowered down the volume entirely. “Aunt Jill has been trying to talk to you! Mom warned you about playing the music so loud!”

The common theme, a groan from Moira, but she got it as she looked Jill’s pair of angry eyes in the rearview mirror. “Okay, okay, so sorry, Jill. What were you saying about Barry?”

Oh how Jill never liked how Moira called her own dad by his name, not one bit as the look on Jill’s face was enough for Moira to know the games were off, and if not, it would be with what Jill says next. “Just get us to your home and I’ll tell you when we get there.”

Moira didn’t need to be some rocket scientist to know Jill wasn’t going to cut her any slack, and Moira deserved it as said through Carlos and Polly not defending her because when they drove up to the driveway of their home, just when Moira shuts down the car and was about to step out, she’s stopped by Jill’s firm voice. “You stay here, young lady.”

Jill had already showed the loving side of being a mother, but now she would show the right balance of showing the disciplining side, in which Moira again knew she was in for it, muttering a quiet ‘Fuck’ under her breath.

Carlos got the gist of where Jill was heading with this, feeling for Moira, but again, deserved it, so he would say, “Let’s go, Polly.”

Polly’s eyebrows furrowed at her older sister till eventually stepping out and sprint on home whereas Carlos is not so quick as he would lighten up the strict atmosphere with a little jab of a tease at Moira, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. “Well… it was nice knowing you, Mo. Good luck.”

Moira just flipped Carlos off, and after a chuckle from Carlos, he just went ahead to enter the Burton’s home full of the Christmas décor while Jill left the backseat to enter the passenger seat, and when she closed it shut, Moira still did not look to the side where Jill was still giving that stern gaze at Moira. So feeling it, Moira just disappoints Jill even more by busting out a pack of cigarettes from her dark parka, and Jill wasn’t disappointed that Moira was smoking since she was that adult age. Moira could do whatever she wanted to do. What disappointed Jill was that this was not the right time for it, so when Moira struck the lighter to light up her cigarette, Jill grabs that cigarette from Moira’s lips and tosses it out of the window to disintegrate into the snowy patch of the driveway.

Silence follows, but not long as it’s broken by Jill, swift, low, but firm response. “My father, I can barely remember him. So when I hear you call Barry by his name, you know how I get.”

Moira does that ‘pfft’ and did it anger Jill all the more. “You look at me!”

Moira does, staring into those blue eyes of Jill’s that were on fire, but held that love, as said in her words. “I won’t tell you the whole story. That’s Barry’s part, but Barry has done everything to keep you all protected, and if it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t be here today working for Terra Save, so quit with this ‘Fuck the World’ attitude because that is not what Terra Save is about, and neither is Claire. Don’t let her down, got me?”

Jill’s last shout was enough for Moira that she slumped into silence and into her own pity where there was no need to as there’s Jill reaching over to hug her, and listen to Jill’s words that would begin such a warm exchange. “Remember when I first babysat for Barry and Kathy?”

Moira, of course, couldn’t hold back a burst of a giggle into Jill’s neck. “Yeah… a year after RC. I was just 8.”

“And I just turned 25, taking care of this little rebel, who went flying all around the place.”

“With a cane, a broom, anything, breaking things up.”

“Things I had to payback myself, but you would’ve done better with a crowbar, Master of Breaking, how’s that?”

“Sounds good, Master of Unlocking.”

Moira laughed into Jill’s neck, and so did Jill into Moira’s neck, and after pulling back, Jill cups Moira’s face, the two smiling. “You’ve grown so much since that day. You’re 19, but try not to grow up so quick, ok?”

After a nod of the head that came with a sniffle from Moira, Jill had reached through the young rebellious woman, and minutes later, they both enter the warm confines of the Burton home, and there she was, one Mrs. Kathy Burton, her blonde hair flowing and wearing a yellow dress. “There you are!”

Though she was now a mother herself, Jill received the motherly welcoming that was warmer as the house with Kathy greeting Jill with a hug that after they pulled away, Kathy immediately read through Jill that only a mother could, and before Jill could even say a single word, it’s a grinning Moira, dusting off her boots from the snow and hanging her parka on the coatrack before passing by with one word, which was, ‘Yup’ to her mother.

Kathy lets out a happy gasp, and it wasn’t very often that Jill would blush, albeit overwhelmingly that she had to cover face, but Kathy is there to bring those hands down to reveal the tears in Jill’s eyes, and it’s now Kathy who before could get a word out, Jill beats her to it. “Yeah… I’m pregnant.”

“AHHH!!!” Kathy screamed with such happiness like on the very first day she discovered she was pregnant with Moira, so that Jill could not help but to laugh away as they came in for another hug when afterwards, Kathy is quick to the hospitality by unzipping Jill’s parka. “Now, let me get this for you before we join the boys in the dining room.”

Being her humble self, Jill tries to stop Kathy. “N-No, it’s okay, I can—

“Oh, hush.” Kathy kindly cuts off Jill and hangs the parka on the coatrack next to Carlos’ black coat, unveiling Jill’s blue turtleneck sweater that matched with Carlos’ black one for when they step inside the living room, Jill comes to another heartwarming sight of Barry giving Carlos that bear hug that was so strong that it lifted Carlos off his feet and struggling to breathe while laughing.

“All right, all right, Barry, it’s good to see you too!”

“Missed you, ya damn Casanova!”

Seeing the men happy as ever just rubbed off on the women, both Jill and Kathy just warmly watching the men with Barry finally releasing Carlos, who would turn to them and tug at Barry’s sweater and crack a joke. “Check it out, Jill. Barry already has his ugly Christmas sweater on all the dads wear.”

Barry did indeed have that decorative red and green sweater on, and the veteran wasn’t shy of it as he laughed away in his typical gruff and loud manner, but then there’s Jill making a suggestion. “Which reminds me, I have to get you one next year, Carlos.”

Kathy was already aware of the news, but not her husband, hence, Barry stopping his laughter the moment those words left Jill’s mouth where he couldn’t get out any of his own after knowing his longtime friend, his former STARS partner and now fellow founding BSAA member was to be a mother after coming a long way, overcoming all the difficulties, all the trials and tribulations and even forgiving him for his betrayal in STARS. Though it was this moment he felt more like a father figure rather than a partner, and Jill was feeling the same as a daughter figure for if there was one person that she wanted to walk her down that aisle and hand her over to Carlos, that person would be Barry, so for a fleeting moment, as Jill went on smiling, the young Jill flashed in Barry’s eyes, remembering her as the young elite STARS operative donning the blue beret, proving that law enforcement knew no gender as Jill proved herself, better than the men, and Barry was proud just as he was thrilled.

From all these flowing emotions, the fleeting vision of the young Jill Valentine returned back to the one in her prime, and Barry is calm in his approach of Jill, stopping in front of her, but before he speaks, he smirks first at Carlos.

“Seems like we’re gonna have a little Supercop running around.”

Joyful laughter erupts with Kathy adding to it. “A little Supercop we’ll be gladly to babysit, right, my dear husband?”

“Without a doubt, so this occasion calls for a toast.” Barry finished, and the veteran married couple were enjoying getting the best of their younger counterparts with Jill and Carlos going flushed in the face as they held those shy smiles, and afterwards was Barry hugging Jill while Kathy hugs Carlos when following the endearing moment was another one.

It was just minutes later that they were in the living room, the fireplace providing the warmness and the beautiful Christmas tree in the corner surrounded by many presents. As for the four, they were having that toast as Jill and Carlos sat across from Kathy with Barry doing the serving, coming from the kitchen with a bottle of rich champagne. He would, of course, serve the soon-to-be parents first, pouring the champagne into Jill’s and Carlos’ wineglasses followed by serving Kathy’s and his own. Barry then settles down the bottle atop the coffee table and straightens up alongside his wife, both he and Kathy extending out their glasses for the toast with Barry beginning the honors to the great and happy news.

“Well, here’s to you two. Congratulations on the blessing of having a baby.”

Jill and Carlos clink their glasses against Barry’s and Kathy’s, but just when the day, the night that went perfectly couldn’t get any better, it was about to turn for the worse, and it comes so unexpectedly that after Barry, Kathy and Carlos take the first sip, they hear the shattering of a glass. Quicker than ever, they all shot their concerned eyes to Jill, having dropped her wineglass before she could even take a sip and was now clutching at her stomach with one hand with the other over her mouth where such a frightening sight worried them all, the sight of blood seeping between her fingers, down her cheeks and dripping onto the floor when they dropped from her chin, and the last thing she would hear as she was falling was all three yelling her name, none louder than Carlos’.

“Jill!!”

Carlos catches Jill in time from hitting the floor, but could do nothing from Jill drifting slowly into a state of unconsciousness as she would also hear the frantic exchange fading and echoing to her ears that began with Barry just like her vision was fading into darkness. 

“Kathy, call the ambulance!”

“I’m already on the phone!”

“How long?!”

“…. Five minutes!”

Carlos and Barry, they exchange that firm look knowing it would be too long, so Barry is quick to say. “I’ll get the truck ready. Stay with her.”

“Yeah.” Carlos said before looking down to Jill’s eyes softly close, but it was in the way that Jill does so that has Carlos at a shock as Jill smiled peacefully into unconsciousness as a loving premonition transpires, and the premonition did not take place in France, not Japan, not Brazil, not Canada, but in the United States.

In Raccoon City…


	5. United States

14 years in the distant future, it is the autumn of 2024…

It was a warm, sunny day where there were two beautiful young teenage girls of 14 years of age whom were those rare identical twins holding different genes and traits as they though had the same short brown hair, they were of different shades and styles. The one with mahogany brown she inherited from their father had her hair waved the right while the other inherited their mother’s normal shade of brown had it to the left, and it went the same for their skin with the former inheriting their mother’s fair skin while the latter inherited their father’s bronze tone. Even their precious faces held their differences, but it was in their eyes is what they had in common, inheriting their mother’s cerulean blue, and as for these adorable twins dressed in matching black kimonos, they were in the backyard of their home in what was known as New Raccoon City.

The girl with her father’s mahogany brown hair was kneeling by their flower garden, happily humming a melody their mother taught her on the piano while she went on delicately plucking flowers into the bundle that was already full while the other girl stood behind her twin, impatiently tapping her right foot against the grassy surface while holding her own bundle of flowers.

“Come on already. Isn’t that enough, Aya?”

“Never enough for our papa, Ami!”

And there it was, their names of Japanese ancestry with Ami being the older sister by only five minutes resembling their mother’s assertive attitude while her twin sister’s lively spirit resembled their father’s as she went on plucking away the flowers and humming along, so came a frustrated sigh from Ami as she kneeled next to her twin. “Aya, look at me, sis.”

Aya goes on humming and plucking at the flowers, but she couldn’t hold back the sadness in her eyes that like any other twin, Ami could feel her twin sister denying the pain, the hurt, so Ami reaches out again. “Aya, look at me, please? Don’t do this like last year.”

Aya doesn’t look, but her humming begins to crack as it now became the struggle of sniffles and sobs that when she plucked the last flower, she clutched it against her heart. “I miss papa.”

Ami, being the stronger sister, but just as sad, smiled a trembling one as she knelt down and hugged her twin. “I miss dad too, but no tears like mama always says. Dad wouldn’t want that, so get up.”

Aya does so, keeping the bundle of flowers in her hand with the other still clutching at her heart before sniffling happy at her twin sister. “No. Papa wouldn’t want me to be sad. Papa would want us to be smile and remember happy moments.”

“Yup!” Ami happily chirped and commenced the exchange of those joyful and precious memories. “Like remember the times mom would always get mad at dad letting us stay up an extra hour?”

“Yes! Or like when mom would get mad at papa for letting us play soccer in the rain and make him clean our clothes.”

“Or like when mom came home from work all those times and get mad at dad for trying to teach us how to play the guitar instead of letting us practice the piano.”

“Or like how mom would smile when papa would call her Supermom instead of—

“SUPERCOP!!” The twin sisters erupted together, finishing each other’s sentence as most twins tend to do, and there they are, giggling with such happiness and holding each other tighter.

When they pull back, Ami swipes away those happy tears from her little sister’s cheeks while Ami held her own tears where one did not shed as they stayed swelling in her blue eyes that reflected Aya’s just like the smiles on their precious faces. “No matter how mad mom got, she always smiled at dad, so let’s keep our smiles for mom when we visit him, okay?”

After one more sniffle, Aya nods, and right on cue was their mother. “Have all of your flowers ready, my little partners?”

Aya and Ami are quick to brush away at their tearstained cheeks before smiling to their mother, the 50-year-old Jill Valentine, donning her own kimono, and no, it was not her favorite blue, but a beautiful white with a pattern of pink butterflies, and neither was her hair pale blond or bound into a ponytail, but back to her original short brown color with streaks of gray from her age that also showed in her face, tiny wrinkles and the slight bags from under her blue eyes where despite her age, they shined ever brightly, as did her smile at her two daughters.

“Well?” The older Jill giggles out. “Are you two ready visit your father or not?”

Were they ever, the twins shouting, “YES!!” together.

The happy sisters ran to their mother with each holding their bundle of flowers. Aya grabs onto Jill’s left hand while Ami’s grabs the right, and it went as such when minutes later, they were walking through a vast grounds named, ‘Raccoon City Memorial Cemetery’ where there are hundreds of thousands gravestones that lost their lives in the ill-fated city, but it wasn’t just the civilians, but also for those who lost their lives to bioterrorism throughout the world. Why it was name after the city was because it’s where all started, so The Raccoon City Memorial Cemetery became that special place dedicated to all the victims and those that died in the fight against bioterrorism, and the names stretched throughout the two decades as Jill would pass by the familiar names she never forgot and made sure to have them rest in peace, to make sure the world would never forget, all of them empty coffins.

Jill walks hand-in-hand with her daughters as the leaves of autumn fell, her eyes saddened, but on her lips was a strong, humble smile as she read those names on the gravestones, and it starts with those from STARS such as Forest Speyer, Richard Aiken, Kenneth Sullivan, Enrico Mancini, Edward Dewey, Joseph Frost and the last being Brad Vickers where she repeats those last words she said to him in the city, her voice resonating within her mind.

‘Always a team, Brad… always.’

From STARS, Jill now passes by the BSAA section where there were thousands of gravestones once the fight against bioterrorism became global, and first was Dan DeChant, then followed by those that impacted her longtime partner, Chris Redfield, enough to drive him into a state of depression, doubting his abilities and his leadership after the incident in Edonia where he lost Marco Rose, Ben Airhart, Carl Alfonso and Finn Macauley, but it was a young operative by the name of Piers Nivans who brought back Chris to his senses, to make him realize that he wasn’t alone in the fight against bioterrorism, for the BSAA, so when Jill passed by Piers’ gravestone, soft words resonated in her mind once again that was repeated by many others in their family of friends, and they were…

‘Thank you so much, Piers… we all love you and miss you.’

After STARS and the BSAA, who she missed with all her heart, it would be the UBCS next, and oh yes, Jill made it known to pay homage to the mercenaries that were left in the dark of Umbrella’s evil intentions, so it wasn’t a surprise that it required a lot of time, a lot effort from Jill to convince the government to acknowledge them, and she got the approval, but only for those she knew through from Carlos. They were his best friends, Murphy Seeker and Tyrell Patrick with the last being Carlos’ mentor and even father figure in Mikhail Viktor, and she remembered repeating his ‘shitbird’ line to the NEMESIS tyrant, which made her smile tremble for a fleeting second till she recovered herself because the last gravestone would take all the strength to not let her daughters see her immensely sad, and that gravestone is the one they come to a slow stop to.

Jill stays strong, for him, for their twin daughters, Ami and Aya, whom both watch their mother kneel down and brush away the leaves from the gravestone, and the words etched in stone read as such… 

‘Carlos Oliveira’

‘1977-2022’

‘In loving memory of a beloved friend’

‘Devoted Husband’

‘Loving Father.’

The epitaph was chosen by Jill, wanting it simple but special at the same time just as Carlos would’ve wanted despite his flamboyant and brash manner, never seeking attention, just getting the job done, and Carlos did just that, committed to all those who knew him and the love for his friends and family. It consisted of his wife, Jill Valentine-Oliveira, and their twin daughters, Ami and Aya Oliveira holding their bundle of flowers as they knelt by their mother’s side and listen to her heartfelt giggle just like the smile Jill kept strong at the eldest.

“Ami… want to begin?”

Ami Oliveira was the firstborn and was ever happy to take the lead. 

“Hey, Dad… I’ve been taking care of mom and little sis like I promised. We’ve been doing great. I’m still trying to get better at the guitar, but you’ll be happy to know that I’m already the star of the high school soccer team in just my Freshman year. Coaches say colleges are already taking a look at me for a scholarship. Mom tries her best to attend every game. When she can’t make it, Uncle Barry and Aunt Kathy would be there to pick me up after each game, but when mom is there, she roots for me the loudest. Other mothers know not to try and root louder than her. One time another mother did until she realized who mom was. Mom gave the other mom a deathstare. Supermom is like that as you’ve always known, dad.”

Jill keeps quiet as her smile shines brighter, even wanting to laugh, though it slightly fades with how Ami finishes. 

“But we all still miss you, dad. It hasn’t been the same and never will be, but we’re all still smiling like you always wanted us to. I’ll keep doing just that. I’ll keep taking care of mom and little sis… I love you, dad, so much.”

Smiling, Ami leans forward and lays her bundle of flowers as Jill softly and soothingly rubs her daughter’s back, ever proud of how Ami remained strong, but it couldn’t be said with her youngest daughter when they hear Aya begin to sob. Ami feared her little sister was going to breakdown yet again, and Jill feared the same, but these sobs were different. They were of happiness just like her tears were that were also in the words that sobbed out in between the sniffles that would come with them, and Jill and Ami watch with smiles themselves as Aya began in her father’s Brazilian-Portuguese while clutching the bundle of flowers ever closer to her heart and ever vibrant, just like how her father would want her to be.

“Olá, papa! I miss you, but I’m staying strong for mom like me and big sis’ promised. Our first year in high school has been amazing so far. Big sis is already popular. She has so many friends, boys and girls. I’m still trying to fit in. I’m still super shy and quiet, but having big sis there is all I need. We take different classes throughout the day, so we’re hardly ever together, but when it’s lunchtime, big sis always waves me down in the lunchroom, always having a spot saved next to her with all her other friends. They get us confused, but we don’t mind. We actually have fun with it, even with mom like when she grounded me for three days, Ami would take my place in my room so that I can use the computer at times and even go out with the little friends I have.”

Aya’s confession came through a burst of a wholehearted giggle while hearing the news of being tricked by her own daughters, no less, Jill flashes a stern, but playful glare down at Ami looking up with a nervous smile. Eventually, Jill smiles back, but Ami wasn’t out of the woods just yet as her mother would mouth the familiar words every parent uses before disciplining their child, and they were ‘We’ll talk about this when we get back’

Ami swallows a lump of fear, but returning back to Aya, she would finish after one more sob, after one more sniffle and after one more tear, she would end her words with how she started, in her father’s language.

“Eu te amo, papa… sempre.”

That was all from his daughters, both feeling their father smiling from the heavens as Aya laid her bundle of flowers, and Jill was ever happy as she rose to a stand with her strong daughters, only to hear a familiar, sweet and loving woman’s voice.

“Hope we’re not intruding.”

Jill and her daughters turn to the sweet voice of the much older Kathy Burton in a black dress and holding a bundle of her own flowers while alongside her was the now 64-year-old Barry Burton in a black suit, and his much older age also showed by his gray beard. More so by the slight limp in his steps, being supported by both a walking cane while Kathy’s has her left arm entwined with her husband’s right, and despite the toll his career took on him, Barry was still his ever-lively-self as his usual gruff chuckle didn’t lose its spirit, nor did his smile at the surprised young faces looking back at him and his wife.

“Why the lost look? You didn’t think your Uncle Barry wasn’t going to make it, now did ya?”

Ami and Aya blink at the same time just like they would burst forward and shout, “Uncle Barry!”

The giggling twins hugged Barry with so much force, so much love that it nearly toppled him over, but Barry stood his ground, his gruff chuckling now growing to that loud, burly laughter of his as Kathy and Jill happily watched on, watching Barry steady himself and his laughter. “Now, now, careful with this old man. You’re making me into a Barry-sandwich, you little Supercops.”

Oh does Jill and Kathy ever laugh to the reference Barry always used for Jill, and if Carlos was there, he would’ve been laughing himself with both Ami and Aya softly pulling back with Ami going first. “We’ve you missed you and Aunt Kathy!”

“Yeah!” Aya huffed out with hands on her hips. “It’s been a whole year. Where have you two been?”

Barry chuckled as he saw his own daughters in Jill’s, the fiery Moira in Ami and the carefree Polly in Aya, but it wouldn’t be him giving the reason for their absence, but his smiling wife. “Your Uncle Barry must take it easy, sweethearts. He can’t overstrain himself or travel too much.”

“But you still haven’t told us why?” Aya sadly pouted.

The adults lost their smiles as they all read through each other like any other adults, not wanting their beloved children to worry about their health and concentrate on their own lives when fathers and mothers have lived out their own. No different was Jill as she took it upon her own shoulders to explain as to why Barry was limited, not wanting Barry nor Kathy to do the lying they were all never fond of doing, but just when she was about to, Kathy did not want Jill to lie yet again, so Kathy beats Jill to it when all Kathy says was,

“Let’s leave Uncle Barry and your mom alone while we take a walk, and I will finally tell you why, okay?”

Though they may have been young teens, Ami and Aya were far beyond their years as they suspected it was something serious, something wrong with their uncle, and if not for the strong smiles from their mother, Barry and Kathy, they would’ve questioned it, but they don’t. Kathy then hands over the bundle of flowers on over to husband followed by extending both hands to Jill’s daughters in which Ami takes the left and Aya takes the right, and off they go, but not without the twins sparing one more concerned look back to their uncle and their mother, both still smiling. After seeing their smiles, Ami and Aya turn forward and walk along with their Aunt Kathy where meanwhile, Jill turns back around to a sight that hurt her, which was Barry gingerly getting on his right knee and placing the flowers in front of Carlos’ gravestone.

Jill doesn’t say anything, knowing Barry had a lot to say himself, so Jill would just listen to Barry’s sincere tribute with her eyebrows furrowed while Barry’s were firm, though there was nothing but happiness in his voice.

“Wanna start off by saying sorry I wasn’t here last year. Age’s been catching up with me, but hey, here’s the sitrep on the Burtons. Polly’s getting married soon. She found this hotshot of a doctor. He’s a good, straight-up guy. They’ve been dating for a year now. Happy for her as I know you would be too, but it gets even better. Moira, your Mo as you always called her will be Terra Save’s next director with Claire acting as a consultant. Heh, can you believe that? That little rebel of mine leading Terra Save? As for me and the missus, we’re doing just fine. Kathy never lets me out of her sight, always on time with the medication and procedure with my heart condition, but know what, Carlos? I’m ready to go at any given moment, so save a spot for me and I’ll introduce you to all my old STARS buddies. You’ll fit in just fine, so till then… rest.”

Jill, watching and listening all that time, was doing so much to prevent herself from breaking as she had a hand covering her face, shielding her eyes that stung and lips that kept closed from sobbing, but when Jill lowers her hand just a bit, she finds Barry struggling to get up and clutching at his chest, and that’s when Jill shouts. 

“Barry!” Jill darts to his side, catching Barry’s arm and catching him from falling entirely. 

She would straighten her old STARS old partner, but Barry chuckles off the pain as his heart condition settled down and sending Jill a weary, but confident smile. “Hey, there’s still fight left in this old dog. Don’t you worry. You just take care of your girls like Carlos would want, okay, Supercop?”

The broken laugh that shout out of Jill was both happy and sad to hear Barry echo the nickname, and there was no one else better than Barry to say it, but happy as she was, the weight of the emotions got to her, so much so that Jill collapsed onto all fours in front of Carlos’ grave when now it would be Barry having to watch in sadness, regretting speaking the nickname when Jill didn’t stay true to Carlos’ promise, which was staying strong and keep on smiling. It was just raising her head to look at his name on the stone with tears leaking down her aged, frail cheeks and lips that again trembled to the words she strained out, breaking down when her daughters weren’t there to see, and Barry was the first to witness it as Jill would go on to say, and he would try his best to console her in what would be an emotional exchange that revealed Carlos’ untimely fate, one that left Jill in that cold-cruel-Carlos-less world she now suffered in, a world she still blamed herself for.

“If only I killed Nicholai back in RC, make sure he was dead, none of this would’ve happened. Carlos wouldn’t have chased after him.”

“He said it himself, Jill, that it was okay. It was his decision.”

“But I couldn’t do the same for him. I couldn’t cure him.”

“You did, Jill. You both did. You both used the last two serums to save your girls. You did everything he wanted. He’s living through them.”

“Still. I know there wasn’t any other choice. We all knew there was no stopping him, but it’s just I regret Carlos convincing me not to go with him.”

“But that’s where it is, Jill. That’s what Carlos was trying to say. If you had gone together, your girls would have no father or mother to raise them.”

“I know, but… but I miss him!!”

That’s when Jill lost it, failing to hold back the sobbing that just erupted into full-out crying after her shout that drowned out every sound all around her, but then comes a gentle breeze sweeping through, and all that Jill would hear was Carlos’ voice, a whisper, a pleading one.

“Hang in there, Supercop… wake up… please wake up.”

And she will do so for after opening her tear-filled eyes to Carlos’ gravestone, she awakens all the way back to the present time, all the way back in the BSAA Headquarters in the United Kingdom…


	6. United Kingdom

First sense Jill senses is taste, a harsh, nasty taste of food that was fed in liquid nutrition recently through a tube orally, licking her dry lips…

Second sense is hearing, hearing the sounds of the stable beeping pulse of a heart monitor and her own steady breathing…

Third sense is the feel of warmness of lying underneath soft sheets and the comfort of laying over a soft bed…

Fourth sense is smell, the rich aroma of her mother’s favorite lavender flowers…

Last but not least was the sense of touch.

It was the feel of a gentle breeze that she felt in her dream, and it was Jill’s eyes fluttering open to a ceiling fan spinning slowly in what she immediately recognized to be a room within the medical bay of the BSAA HQ as she had been here many times before to patch up after many field operations. Jill first looks to the right, a window with the blinds open where she can see the calm night of stars shining and the moon glowing, illuminating the room where Jill would then look to her left, and what a sight it was to behold. There was Carlos as the last time she had seen him at the start of her vacation tour, wearing his black hoodie. As of the present, Carlos was sitting in the same way when he watched over her in Raccoon City, the chair reversed with arms folded as he slept.

Such a sight made Jill wonder just how long she’s been out of it, how long he’s been watching over her, but wasn’t the least surprised, so after a light giggle, Carlos shot his head up and erupted from his chair that the chair itself fell over from his shocked force.

“Jill??”

He couldn’t believe it. He thought his mind was playing games, but again, there it was, Jill surviving, beaming back up at him, and after pulling off the mask, her first words went hoarse through her dry throat. “What? Thought I was going to leave you in a cold-cruel-Jill-less world? That would be just too cruel, right?”

Carlos’ reaction isn’t the one Jill expected as he didn’t smile, nor laugh, or even joke back. All he did was rush to her side and cup her face while in disbelief, but reality sunk in as he welcomed her back from her state of unconsciousness with a set of familiar words she remembered in the long ago nightmare of an infected Carlos in Raccoon City, but this was no dream nor a nightmare, but a real blessing.

“Jill, thank God, you’re safe… you’re all right.”

Happy to be back in a world where there was still him, still Carlos, Jill brought a hand over his that was cupping her left cheek. “Of course I’m okay. I’m Supercop, remember?”

Still, no games, no jokes from Carlos, just dropping his hands from her face as he just gave the revelation. “Jill… you’ve been out for 9 months.”

The revelation struck Jill like nothing else before that when hearing it, she immediately opens her medical robe to reveal a lengthy scar over her stomach that could only come from a C-Section, and so the fear of a miscarriage, of losing the baby shot through Jill’s mind. Such a fear triggered Jill that despite not having used her muscles in that long length of time, it doesn’t stop her from erupting over the bed, but Carlos, with hands grabbing her wrists, stops Jill, or at least tries to as Jill fights back, commencing the struggle like no other between them with Carlos doing his best to hold her down while Jill was doing everything in her power to free herself by flinging her legs and sporadically whipping her arms that tried to break loose from Carlos’ firm grip, and Jill starts the struggle with a cry in his face.

“Get the fuck off me!!”

“Jill, stop! Calm down!”

“Get off!”

“Jill, you just woke up! Your body needs rest!”

“Fuck needing rest! I want to know what happened to our baby!!”

“They’re fine, Jill!”

Ever so suddenly, Jill stops the struggle, both she and Carlos panting heavily as she is left in shock to the dream becoming into fruition that all she could get out was one word, which was “They??”

Carlos, still panting, still having her wrists in his hands, confirms it through his breathing. “Three days ago, Rebecca and her team performed the C-Section surgery to deliver the babies.”

“Babies?” Jill shuddered out, and Carlos would finally release Jill’s wrist and burst out a chuckle of disbelief when he, himself, had found out. “Yeah, I was just as surprised. Two healthy baby girls. How ‘bout that.”

How about it indeed that Jill was speechless, never expecting to give birth to twins as her heart ran miles, so there was no delay, no hesitation wanting to know of her children as she gazes up at Carlos with such a pleading, yearning soft gaze that even he wouldn’t be able to deny her what she wanted.

“I want to see them, Carlos.”

“Tomorrow in the morning, Jill, when you’re better rested and—

“Now, Carlos!”

Though months had passed, the history remained where Carlos could never win over Jill, and did he mind? Not at all as his defeated smile said so.

Then without a word, Carlos straightens up and Jill just watches Carlos simply head for the two hospital bassinets at the foot of the bed that she failed to notice due to the shock of awakening after a nine-month coma, thus, Jill’s heart would race even further when Carlos starts to gently and slowly move one of the bassinets as to not wake their daughter. Carlos stops at the left side of the bed where Jill adjusts herself, sitting upright and having to catch her breath just when Carlos picked up their precious gift to the world that stirred in his broad arms. Carlos would give a soft and soothing ‘Shh, it’s okay, here’s momma’ before ever-delicately hand their daughter to be held by her mother for the first time, and did reality ever struck at Jill the moment Carlos gracefully settled their daughter into Jill’s left arm.

Not a soul could blame Jill for being as she was, silent with all the swelling happiness kept inside, seeing her baby daughter sleeping peacefully in a white bundle with a blue BSAA baby beanie, but making Jill even happier as could be as there were no complications from the augmentations Wesker had done as all ten tiny fingers and toes were accounted for, and fortunately it would be the same for her other daughter as Carlos strolls up the other bassinet, only this time to the right side of Jill’s bed where before picking up their daughter, Carlos smiles and whispers at Jill.

“Now this is the youngest by five minutes, but I warn you, she’s going to be the energetic one and will keep us up at night.”

Jill oh-so wanted to burst out laughing a sweet one with all her heart, but she contains it as to not wake their baby up, but there was no need to fear because when Carlos settles the other twin into her mother’s right arm, Jill sees her daughter wide awake, stirring and cooing in the same white bundle and in the same blue BSAA beanie as her twin sister. The bundle of joy reached up for her mother’s face with her tiny hands that repeatedly opened and closed, and Jill broke her long silence with a heavenly giggle that only a mother could give as she leans down to let the youngest of the twins explore her face, never minding those tiny sharp nails running over and across her face when in the end, Jill giggles into those tiny palms that just has her baby girl cooing louder, especially when ambushed with an onslaught of repeated kisses, and there she is.

Jill Valentine, the former elite operative of STARS, a founding member and elite SOA operative of the BSAA, was now a mother of two, one sleeping in her left arm while the other was slowly drifting to sleep in her right arm, which just made her shed one more giggle, all while trying to keep her happy tears at-bay, but couldn’t, so those tears leaked down her cheeks. Watching it all was Carlos, sitting back in the reversed chair with his chin resting over his crossed arms and just silently smiling at Jill in the new light of a loving mother instead of an elite operative, and it fitted Jill. Strong as she was out on the battlefield, Jill would be just as strong off of it in the new role of a mother that Carlos couldn’t hold back the warmhearted chuckle.

“It’s gonna be a challenge. You up for it, Supermom?”

Those words are ones Jill will never forget, especially her new nickname that she, herself, couldn’t hold back from a soft laugh, and she returns the favor with her own familiar words once more that echoed Raccoon City. “I got this.”

How the heck could Carlos not quietly laugh and went on to say his own familiar words. “I know you do.”

After the precious and sincere welcoming of their daughters into the world was done comes the serious approach as Jill wanted to know everything, from every second, minute, hour, day, week and month that had went by. Before so, Jill would peck a kiss on youngest twin’s cheek in her right arm, followed by a kiss on the oldest resting in her left. Jill would then ask what she first sought.

“Their names…”

“What?” Carlos batted an eye at Jill. “The names, Carlos… what are they?”

Carlos would again stand up from the chair, calmly this time to approach the bedside and look over Jill’s shoulder, joining her in smiling down at their twin daughters. “Couldn’t come up with the names, but there were a lot of options from our friends. Claire, Rebecca, Sheva and even Ingrid got involved. God, they blurted out everything you could think of.”

Again, not wanting to disturb the rest of her children, Jill contained her laugh, but listens to Carlos go on. “Anyway, I decided that it was best for you to choose, when you would wake up.”

“Wake up.” Jill breathlessly repeated Carlos’ words that again, resonated in that dream within the long coma, but Carlos didn’t catch it. “What was that, Jill?”

“It’s… it’s nothing,” 

Jill, as much as the dream was endearing to know that their girls would grow up healthy and intelligent young women, it was beginning to worry her because of the names she had in her mind that would play along with the premonition that ends with Carlos’ death, and it doesn’t just stop there. The premonition of the new young recruits in Piers, Finn and the others, all coinciding with the political and civil war that was beginning to increase in the Republic of Edonia, along with an eventual global virus outbreak that she couldn’t foretell the name in what would come to be known as the C-Virus, but she closes her eyes, wanting, yearning and hoping that it was just some dream all along. So Jill moves on, not thinking much of it as she focuses on the present.

Therefore, Jill takes a deep breath and smiles down at their daughters, naming the oldest being the first in her left arm. “Ami…”

“And our youngest partner?”

Just as swiftly Carlos asked, Jill swiftly answered. “Aya… Ami and Aya Oliveira.”

“Not your last name?”

“No.” Jill turns to peer past her shoulder and look up at Carlos with a sad, cautious air in her eyes. “No. I don’t want some bioterrorist getting to them just get to me. You don’t mind, do you?”

“I don’t mind. By the way, you did do all the work, so yeah.”

No objection from Carlos, receiving a sly, yet thankful grin from Jill, and there we have it.

Ami and Aya Oliveira, the twin daughters of Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira, the renowned BSAA captain beloved around the world while the former mercenary of the UBCS was still shunned, still doubted amongst the UN whom even criticized the BSAA for letting a person with an Umbrella background become a founding member, but he was loved by the family of friends that knew him, and there was no regrets within Carlos because he understood. He understood the baggage he carried, understanding his Umbrella past will always stick with him. All that mattered was the love and trust of his friends that accepted him, never doubting Carlos, and it was a long list of friends, one that would he was would be forever grateful to have. 

It began with Chris and Leon, knowing Carlos always there, always supporting them when the weight of being called heroes got to heavy, and they were humbled by Carlos’ brash demeanor that always left them loose. Chris would try and try to convince Carlos to become an SOA, even complimenting Carlos that he was better than him and that the BSAA would dramatically benefit from Carlos’ abilities, and the prospect of Chris and Carlos teaming up would frighten the bioterrorists across the world, but to no avail, Carlos would always disagree. As for Leon, just having Carlos as that reliable friend, that best buddy was enough as the two were close just as they were with the same age, so no surprise that their cocky and brash attitudes bonded well.

Then Barry and Kathy, with Barry being the father figure that reminded him of Mikhail, cracking jokes here and there but keeping Carlos in line for not only his sake, but also Jill’s while Kathy, caring and kind as she was, also kept Carlos in line like the son they never had.

Then there were those sister figures, sisters he never had, and both were his fellow founding BSAA member and advisor, Rebecca Chambers, always calling her Super-Doc and going over BSAA business on the side while having casual lunch whenever they were at HQ at the same time. Then the Terra Save icon, Claire Redfield, calling her Super-Stateswoman, which always earned him a playful smack against the shoulder as they would usually engage in friendly political debates with Carlos being the progressive mind and Claire being the liberal, and their debates always ended with hugs, both just wanting the best for the world.

Next were those in the BSAA, becoming great friends with the British-Italian, Parker Luciani, sharing the same love for the World’s Game as they attended many league premier soccer games in England whenever they could, especially the international friendlies when it was either Brazil against England or Italy, and there was never any animosity to whichever team won, just two friends enjoying the game and the playful trash talking throughout. 

Keith Lumley and Quint Cetcham were up next, and if there were two that reminded Carlos of Tyrell and Murphy. It would be them. 

Keith would always mess around with Carlos, teasing Carlos by pointing out all the looks Carlos was getting from the women whenever they went out for drinks and wherever they went, to which Carlos would never acknowledge as he already had the perfect one. Keith would always just groan, wishing he had that much of attention as he was also a ladies’ man, unlike his best friend in Quint, who always sought advice from Carlos when it came to women. Carlos, being the friend he was, would give advice, such as Quint’s crush for the once BSAA operative, Jessica Sherawat, but it still didn’t work out for Quint, and Carlos felt for him whereas Keith would just make fun of Quint from time-to-time.

Now were the most recent addition to the family of friends, the pair of West African operatives whom Carlos couldn’t be anymore thankful to for being there for Jill, and they are Josh Stone and Sheva Alomar, and like all the others, it didn’t take long for them to take a liking to Carlos’ carefree behavior that was rare around the serious atmosphere of headquarters. For instance, of all the best friends he had amongst the men, his friendship was Josh reached to the heights of a brother figure in so little time, the two having to endure a rough childhood with no running water and barely any food, held back because of the color of their skin, but here they were now, overcoming the difficulty of having to overcome poverty and become the successful men they were and inspirations in their countries.

They will always be brothers, Carlos and Josh, but now comes Sheva, and everyone in the family of friends loved it, mostly Jill, as Sheva was that sister figure to her, so whenever Carlos would mess up, there’s Sheva warning Carlos to not mess up again. It could be a simple missed phone call or late to response to a text from Jill, Sheva made it known to Carlos, and Carlos himself knew not to get under Sheva’s skin. Sheva was a ferocious woman that even Carlos knew better than to even plead his case, but in the end, they were friends, and Sheva just loved the fact to know that she always had that leash around Carlos to remind him to not disappoint her sister, Jill Valentine, not that Carlos needed a reminder, mind you, to his weariness.

All in all, this was it, his new family, Carlos’ family that he wouldn’t trade anything for. 

He may never be able to put his Umbrella past behind him, but he was happy, he found stability, he found peace, and it was all through her, through Jill and their girls, Ami and Aya as Carlos watched his family that he never thought he would have after he was captured as a young guerrilla soldier by government forces and just minutes from execution, so it’s now Carlos taking Jill by surprise with his arms softly coming around her neck from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder.

“Thank you.”

Jill was as flustered as anyone could be, further surprised for if it was anyone who should be grateful, it was Jill because as all knew she wouldn’t be alive in the first place, so like all the other times, Jill comes back with the same soft response. “Carlos, I told you before, you don’t have to—

“I know, but let me finish this time.” Carlos’ cutoff was a gentle one as he closes his eyes and nestles closer, burying his face against her neck. 

“You keep saying that you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me. You told everyone about what I did for you, so just for once, let me thank you, for trusting me when you had all the right not to because I wouldn’t be given this second chance if it wasn’t for you. You got me the pardon from the UN. You backed me up. I’m a founding member of the BSAA. It’s all because of you that I’m here now, and I know that I can’t ever repay it back, but if there is a way, whatever it is, just let me know and I’ll do it… anything.”

Of all the things she heard in her life, nothing came closer to Jill than Carlos’ whispering those words with him not knowing that he already repaid her back with all his love, his commitment to her and the two bundles of joy, of life in her arms when all along she felt she never needed to be repaid in any fashion. They both helped each other out in her eyes since if it wasn’t for Jill, Carlos wouldn’t be alive, and if it wasn’t for Carlos, Jill wouldn’t be alive, and that is what made their relation that more special. That no one was in debt, no one owed anyone anything, but if there was something, one thing Jill has been waiting, wanting for as long since both confessed their love, it would come in two words that were more than difficult to say.

First, though, was Jill whispering. “Want to know how you can repay me?”

That took back Carlos, but he asked for it, now he would pay for it, whispering back. “Yeah… tell me.”

“Before I tell you, please, put our baby girls back in their beds.”

Carlos would do just that, unbinding his arms around Jill to gently start first with laying Ami on the left bassinet, then Aya on the right, both babies continuing to rest when afterwards. All was okay as Carlos sits on the side of the bed while Jill herself was looking down and away, albeit with flushed cheeks, her bangs shielding her eyes. It’s something that erases Carlos’ smile, and it made him wonder just what Jill wanted that worried him because this wasn’t Jill to be so flustered and so hesitant as she was now. Jill was always determined, never shy to make her thoughts known to anyone, especially feelings when it especially came to Carlos, so the more Jill stayed silent, it just worried him to the brink that he was going to ask, but then it comes after what Jill whispers, those two precious words.

“Marry me…”

Total silence afterwards, thus Jill feared she had spoken to soon, that she was running off of the emotions of becoming a mother, of wanting their relationship to be fully complete, fully committed for the long haul, wanting to be Jill Oliveira, but to her amazement, her astonishment, Carlos was way ahead of her when after hearing a small ‘clicking’ sound, Jill darts her eyes ahead. It’s the sight of Carlos holding out a small black box that Carlos flicked opened with his thumb, and inside the box is a shining diamond sapphire ring that left Jill speechless, breathless, but Carlos wasn’t, as he would quietly break the silence.

“Been holding this since a year after we escaped Raccoon City.”

That’s when Jill flashed her eyes from the ring to Carlos, who did not return her shocked look as he kept his eyes down on the ring, his new undercut style, the bangs covering his right eye, but Jill is able to go off on Carlos’ soft voice, and did she ever listen.

“Tried to find the right time, ya know? All these years, everything that’s happened. You were always on alert. Any op could popup at any moment. You and Chris taking down my old UBCS boss. Vladimir’s bioweapon: TALOS. The Queen Zenobia incident after the whole Terragrigia Panic. Then the Spencer Estate where I thought I wouldn’t have another chance. I just couldn’t propose, so I hope you understand why I waited… to not to put that extra pressure on you, Jill. I wasn’t going to do that knowing you were dedicated to stopping bioterrorism… no more RCs just like you said.”

Once more, silence ensued that was just Jill still softly gazing at Carlos, who finally looks at her with again, that smile that won over her, the smile he showed in Raccoon City after his first save of Jill Valentine when she shrugged him off by knowing what a radio was, so he comes back at her after all these years, kneeling at the bedside.

“I know it ain’t a radio, but you do know what a ring means, right? So whaddya say? Will you marry me, Jill?”

Jill, she couldn’t remember the last time she tried so hard to withhold back from crying, but strong as she was, she just couldn’t, even with a hand coming over her mouth in time when that first burst of a cry shot out, and Carlos being Carlos, he just watched, smiling, of course, at Jill letting it all out. He didn’t need any words, nothing to be said to know Jill would accept, but the sight of her shoulders shaking uncontrollably to the violent sobbing from the crying she was containing is what made Carlos worry. 

Was it of happiness?

Was it of sadness?”

Was Jill regretting it?

Feeling these emotions was not from Jill, but from Carlos, when it would be him all along who will be there for their twin daughters at home while Jill would be out there fighting to make a world a better place. This is what ran through Carlos’ mind as it was now himself, doubting, that maybe he waited too long, that maybe it was too late, but he couldn’t be anymore wrong. Jill was overjoyed as could be as she wanted this for years, but it all went back to the dream where she was left in a cold-cruel-Carlos-less world, again hoping that it was just a dream and not playing into the premonition that if she does accept, she would end up losing Carlos, so the more she contained her sobbing with having yet to give an answer, Carlos brought his hand back, but Jill is quick to grab his wrist and pull him in,

“Promise me.” Jill sobbed out in Carlos’ startled face, finding himself gazing into those blue eyes that were always full of determination, full of fire, but were now drowned in tears with her always-strong quiet voice breaking. “If he does come back, if somehow he survived, promise me that you won’t chase after him. That you’ll stay with me and the girls. That you won’t go after Nicholai.”

It was a 180 for Carlos, returning back to Raccoon City when he heard the name that to this very day that he loathed, hated, a name he still struggled to forget, forcing himself to forget, but it always remained with him no matter how hard he tried because whenever that name popped up, he would think of the UBCS and the friends he made. He would think of those happy times with Murphy, Tyrell and Mikhail, but in that came the hunger to seek revenge to put their souls to forever rest peacefully, even if it meant his own life. Thus, this was the most difficult promise Carlos could ever pledge as he now had his new family while wanting to avenge his old one if Nicholai was indeed alive, so therefore he was stuck in the middle, thinking as he kept his eyes Jill’s hand, still holding onto his wrist, his thumb softly rubbing over the ring finger where that ring was to be. 

Now it’s him that the longer he was quiet, the more Jill worried, and when she couldn’t endure it, she took the initiative.

Jill took his hand and brought it to cup her left cheek where there were tears trailing down, which he could feel, but he still doesn’t dare to look up, only hear her broken plea. “Carlos, please… promise me that you won’t go after him.”

Carlos looks up and is met with those blue eyes that were surrounded by the fiery redness of tears, but it was her lips, smiling strong that captivated Carlos when it shouldn’t have since Jill was always that strong person, and Carlos would promise her, but it wasn’t through words, but by the action of rising up and slipping the ring through her finger that when he does, Jill doesn’t contain her sobbing, letting it all out through the joyful crying while Carlos clenched her hand into a strong fist. The two, again, looked into each other’s eyes, Jill’s still burning with tears while Carlos had his own that stayed swelling within his warm brown ones, and though he would make the promise, it would go on to be a lie, but for now, for this moment, all Carlos sought was Jill to be secured in her happiness, and he would hate himself for lying.

“If he’s still alive… if he’s still out there somewhere, I won’t go after him… I promise, Jill.”

It’s a promise that would be broken, but now it’s Jill hauling Carlos down to her, crying into his neck. As for Carlos, he returned the embrace, softly rubbing up and down her back, but the look on his face was a somber one as his eyes were towards the window, thinking of Nicholai perhaps one day coming out of the shadows to harm Jill and their daughters, and the thought of it came with the last words he spoke to him that still resonated with Carlos to this very day, which were…

“She’ll get you killed, friend…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for all the love! This was a fun and feeling story to write and loved all the support given to me! Bless you all! Also, forgot to mention this is just part one. Hopefully to have part two up soon.


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